Aeternum Vale
by nashie-chan
Summary: Two years have passed since the legend has ended. But can the most powerful book in the universe actually end? Miaka and Yui find out that the history and fates they thought were true were simply the beginning of a past of lies and a twisted, dark destiny
1. Empty Pages

Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yûgi in any way, so suing me would be a waste of Yuu Watase's time, and a waste of my two dollars (that's a hint that I have no money for which to sue for). All the new characters (especially the bishonen) and the plotline belong to me, and only me, and cannot be taken unless you ask nicely. We'll discuss it over a cup of tea. Until then, I hope you enjoy my story.

_Aeternum Vale_ takes place a year and a half after then end of the second OVA, so this story is a canon of everything preceding that OVA. So picture it the September before the December two-year anniversary of when the book was first opened by Miaka and Yui. The third OVA never happened in this fanfiction – not that I don't like it or anything, but the third one was too final of an ending for me. Plus, I couldn't stand Mayo…I wanted to smack her so many times! (sighs)

On a serious note, this arc of the story is rated PG-13 due to violence, language, adult situations, and thematic elements. However, this rating will most likely change when the second arc of _Aeternum Vale_ is added. The second half, I'm already going to warn you readers, is much darker and violent than this first half. Issues of the real world will play a part in that half – teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, racism, sexual assault, and others. TAKE THIS AS A WARNING BEFORE YOU EVEN START PART ONE.

So other than using discretion in reading this story, I hope you enjoy _Aeternum Vale_ and review when you have finished reading the chapters. Thank you very much!

Musical selection: "You Gotta Be" performed by Des'ree

xxxxx

**- CHAPTER 00: EMPTY PAGES -**

**xxxxx**

_The priestess bid her seishi farewell, assured that someday they would all meet again. And, with her beloved protector, she vanished from the world of her warriors and returned to her own world. So concludes the tale of the priestess of Suzaku and her adventures in the quest to summon her patron god…_

A rustling of pages in the wind, scattering them if they weren't bound together.

_When all is said and done, the time for the priestess to be within this world fades. She departs, her three wishes granted, and attends back to her own world, to her own time. Yet the strands of fate are strong and powerful, and once the lives of the priestess' seishi have been touched, nothing can undo fate's hand in the matter. For all eternity, the Seven will be connected to their priestess, devoted always, guardians forever. That is the way all journeys must end, back at the beginning._

At journey's end…darkness lingers even when the light expands.

_When darkness threatens once again, the constellations of the palaces of heaven will fall into chaos and oblivion. And this is where the new legend begins, a new tale that combines the four palaces of the heavens. The stars of the heavenly corners of the earth will unite once again and summon Genbu, Byakko, Seiryu, and Suzaku. And the last and most powerful of the priestesses will call the final god from the heavens, summon the sacred key, and save all worlds from destruction._

Metal chains tie them down, clasping them from the heavens.

_So is the beginning of the end of the last legend of the Universe of the Four Gods…_

The four palaces of heaven.

Seven stars for each, all lost in the flow of time – the last of the priestesses had summoned Suzaku and had returned to her own world. The stars of Suzaku and Seiryu conflicted in a fiery war – four red lights diminished, six blue lights diminished. The war had taken its toll on the followers of the two gods.

Genbu lays resting, his priestess gone for hundreds of years. Byakko watches over her country, the last of her seishi gone. Seiryu sleeps in his watery dwelling, the seven lights under his name vanished. Suzaku soars over the country of Konan, mourning the loss of his four warriors.

The four priestesses – Takiko, Suzuno, Yui, Miaka – all have completed their course, and the Universe of the Four Gods is finished…

…but within the shadows of a forgotten recess, the pages rustle restlessly in torment.

Who is the key?

xxxxx

Nishimura Masazumi hummed tunelessly to himself as he swept the broom across the empty library floors. Not that anyone visited often enough to leave much of a mess anymore, but it was his job, and one that he took pride in doing, no matter how lousy the pay. Janitors were underrated workers, the bottom of every occupational chain. But without the work of those on the bottom rung, how would the rest of the ladder stay together?

He had been working as a janitor at the National Library for quite some time now – in fact, this coming March, it would be his fifth year working there. _One year a little too long for these old bones_, he thought cheerfully, picking up a stray book lying dormant on the ground and stuffing it back into its proper place on the shelves. _One of these days, I'm going to retire_. It had been his wish for the past year to do such, wanting to spend more time with his wife, children, and thirteen little grandchildren (it might have been fourteen now, but they all looked the same, so he could hardly keep track of the original ten).

Masazumi swept the tiny collection of dust into his dustpan, and emptied it out into the rolling trashcan he lugged behind him. He honestly wished he didn't have to work so late to clean such a large library. His fellow janitor had suddenly come down with a whooping cough and had gone home just a few hours previous. Masazumi wondered why in the world he never got sick days like that, and admitted to himself that, though being fifty-seven years of age, was still as robustly insusceptible to illness as a stalwart college youth.

So that left him wandering up and down the long aisles of the library, sandwiched by huge walls of books. Sometimes, one would catch his interest and he would take it out for a moment to examine it. But not tonight. He was too tired, and wanted to get home to his wife who would scold him for working too hard. They'd have another one of their playful arguments before he would get a soda, and they'd fall asleep in front of the television watching her favourite soap opera reruns.

A smile drifted across his face as he stopped at the door at the second level of the library, a smile that soon disappeared as he glanced at the door, grimacing at it. His manager had said to go into this mostly ignored room and clean it out before the end of the week. He had ignored that command all week, but now his procrastination was coming back to haunt him. All those old books in there gave him a headache, and the sheer dungeon-like effect the room gave off didn't help either. He suspected that no one cleaned in that room for a year, and even when such a cleaning did happen, it wasn't thorough.

He swung the door open, gazing in, and frowned at the sight in front of him. The red exit glow cast an eerie crimson light to the shadows, and he turned to his left to flick the light switch on.

Nothing.

He tried again, and then once more, with no effect. _Someone forgot to pay the electric bill…_, he thought to himself, pulling a flashlight from his tool belt, and casting it on. A dim yellow beam of light split the shadows into two, to reveal the dusty wooden floor and the ancient decaying books stacked into shelves, completely unorganized and in disarray. _He expects me to clean in here with no light? Well, I've got better things to do…but he'll wonder why I didn't tell him earlier on in the week…and I'll have to tell him why…_The janitor muttered obscenities under his breath, and ventured into the room, looking for an alternate light source.

While searching, he gazed up at the hundreds of books surrounding him on either sides. Some of these books hadn't seen the light of day in decades, and looked it too. Some had faded covers, while others had none which to speak of, and were written in obscurely old languages. Dust and age prevented some even being recognizable as books. Masazumi shook his head – such a waste of perfectly good literature. It almost made him want to sit down and read one of-

He stumbled suddenly, pitching forward into the darkness. He managed to catch himself before falling face first into the dusty floor at his feet. Spinning around, he turned the flashlight's beam to the floor to see what in the world had made him nearly break a hip. He glared at the accusing obstruction, bending down to examine it. A book – old, covered in a light sheen in dust, with a faded crimson cover. He picked it up, wondering how it had fallen out, revealing its pages to the shadows. It was filled with illustrations in black ink, all of which made no sense whatsoever. He flipped to the beginning of the book, struggling to recall the calligraphic kanji he hadn't thought of since his freshman year in high school, far too many years back than he cared to acknowledge.

"'Herein contains the tale of a young lady and her quest to gather the constellations of the four palaces of Heaven and Earth, to summon the final god…'" Masazumi chuckled. "It's a children's story!" He closed the book and glanced for its place in the shelves. Light or no light, he wasn't doing this job tonight. He'd rather risk being fired than stumbling over another book that might leave him with a nasty bruise on any portion of anatomy.

He placed the book between two thick volumes about Japanese history, wiped off his pants, and started towards the door, starting to hum the old song again.

"_The final beast god is sealed…the last priestess awaits her destiny…_"

Masazumi spun around, frowning. Where in the world was that voice coming from…?

"_The destiny they chose leads them into the paths of chaos, amidst the worlds of fire and the worlds of ice…_"

Masazumi lifted his flashlight to where he had placed the book, and when he saw it, took an involuntary step backwards. Oily black shadows dripped from the shelf as the book glowed a dull violet. The droplets of shadows accumulated into a puddle on the floor that slowly slid towards him. Masazumi dropped his flashlight in stunned horror, and turned to race towards the door, not believing his eyes.

But the shadows were prepared for that.

Masazumi felt an invisible force tug at his wrists and ankles as his body heavily fell to the ground, knocking the wind out of his lungs. He coughed in protest, eyes searching for the door as he pulled his body up. It wasn't until then did he feel the growing pressure around his throat, crushing his windpipe, suffocating him.

_I must make it to the door…I must…_

He grabbed at the edge of the door, pulling his body into the main library, but the pressure was still there, and by now, his strength had evaporated. Oxygen depleted, he felt his body go limp. His last conscious thought was, _this is what I get for procrastinating…_

The shadows hovered over the man's limp body, as if waiting for him to get up and make a run for it. When it became obvious that he would not be rising any time soon, the shadows crept out into the main library, ignoring the body and spreading to the other shadows created by the wall bookcases.

_The stronger the light, the darker the shadows. Emerge once again. Justice will be obliterated. Confine their hearts and mutilate their minds. This page, this simple world, will be thrown into the Apocalypse. Awaken, the inner me._

The shadows recoiled once, then dispersed.

xxxxx

"I don't understand it, Ryosei-kun," the young girl whined, throwing her pencil down into the folds of the book. "Why do I have to know this silly stuff about Father Latour and his trip to America anyway? I'm already in high school – it's pointless now!" The young man sitting next to her sighed, rubbing the back of his head, and removing his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose – a sign of quickly growing irritation.

"Keiko-chan, you'll have to learn how to do this now or you won't graduate from high school! You don't want to be a freshman forever, do you?" Keiko rolled her eyes, and placed her forehead on her desk, muttering beneath her breath. Arai Ryosei groaned, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. He hadn't taken these evening tutoring sessions just to be ignored and griped at for the majority of the time. Keiko was a bright student – she just hated doing the work. Ryosei had been suggested by the teacher to Keiko's parents to allow him to tutor the girl in a variety of subjects.

Tonight was the most dreaded – English literature.

Ryosei ran a hand through light-brown hair and managed to stifle another groan. "Keiko-chan, the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go get some ice cream. Please, bear with me for another half an hour." Keiko scowled, propping her book up and glaring at the foreign language that made little to no sense for her.

"Fine. But you're treating."

Ryosei rolled his eyes, but nodded, glad to have a somewhat cooperating soul with him now. He turned to the book…and paused. Just for the briefest of moments…had there been a black shadow lying across the English words, thick and oily with promised malice? He frowned at the book, and decided it must have been the angle he was holding it at. He slipped his reading glasses back down his nose, and gestured to Keiko.

"Come on. Let's read this passage over again."

xxxxx

Tara Jun peeked over to where her twin brother was currently curled up in the airport's terminal chairs. Dark bangs flounced into closed eyes as the boy (_Adult_, she chided herself mentally) viciously clung to the two carry-on duffels he had, completely ignorant of the giggling passersby that caught his small form squeezed into the chair. She wanted to laugh outright too, but that would have woken him up, and she didn't want that.

He had begged her to come to the airport with him, having said his other good-byes at home. It had been tearful for everyone except him, always the optimistic killjoy who had told everyone that he'd be back on holidays and other vacation days and that he'd call really early in the morning just to wake everyone up to let them know how much he missed them…

Tara sniffled, pretending that she wasn't crying. She didn't want her brother to go, even if it was for a good reason – he had received a scholarship to study abroad in any country of his choice, a hefty feat for one so young. She had always thought he would go to Korea, the land of their ancestors, but he had simply laughed and told her of his desires to visit the booming megatropolis of a country a bit more similar to theirs. She had been overjoyed for him, but in her heart, she was always crying. The twin she had known for nineteen years, almost twenty this coming May, was going away for who knows how long. They had never been more than three miles apart from each other, and it was tearing her up inside to let him go.

He knew her agony, and invited only her to the airport to see him off. Ryan, Kim, and Dakota had been less than pleased at that, but soon accepted it as 'the way twins worked.' But when the flight had been delayed by two hours, the exhaustion of the sorrowful good-byes and the last few week of packing had finally taken its toll on the youth, and he had fallen asleep soon afterwards. She wasn't mad at him – it gave her plenty of time to reminisce about the past, and shed more tears. She'd yell at him when he woke up.

Turning back to her book, a rueful smile on her face, Tara did not notice the brief shadow pass between them before disappearing as if it were never there.

xxxxx

Kitagawa Shizuka watched the opera on stage with rapt fascination. Her husband sat to her right, leaning forward with his eyes closed, a bemused smile on his face as he took in the strong symbolism in the young opera singer's soprano voice as she sang about the miseries of jealousy, and the swollen heart of a betrayed lover. Shizuka hummed quietly to herself, folding her hands on her lap, smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles in the posh periwinkle gown.

She leaned to her left and glimpsed at her son, who was resting his hand on his cheek as if he were bored with the entire opera. She raised an eyebrow and prodded him gently with one finger. "How is it?" she whispered to him, careful not to raise her voice too loudly. He smiled politely and nodded, turning his attention back to the stage. Shizuka nodded in approval and turned to lean on her husband's shoulder.

Hisaki glanced at his mother, a slow frown appearing on his face, glad that she hadn't taken the time to notice the boredom in his eyes. He hated going to these theatrical events with his parents, despite the fact that he knew it was to educate him in the arts. It made for a good résumé, especially for one of the top bachelors in the upper social class of Japan. All the wealthy families who had daughters were sending them to him to catch his eyes. That was something he hated even more than the fancy dinners and insufferable operas – snobbish, spoiled debutantes who always had Daddy pay for everything in their life.

It wasn't as if he was ungrateful for the privileged life he had led so far – he was always courteously indebted to his parents for seeing that he had the best education money could buy, and that his social time wasn't wasted or ruined. But, despite all of this, Hisaki wished they'd allow him to just _go_ sometimes. And it wasn't as if he would do anything stupid – their name was far too public to risk scandal. But he was nineteen this past spring, and he wanted to act like any other young man his age.

He wasn't like Naoya.

Somehow, he knew that it would take a miracle, and a good amount of terrible luck, to make that happen. With an inward sigh, he turned his attention somewhat to the performance on stage, wondering when in the world the first act would be done with.

He didn't see the shadows swarming under his seat.

xxxxx

The restaurant doors flew open, and a quartet of college students hurried down the steps, laughing and talking loudly in the night air. Some people threw curious looks their way, others looks of longing as they remembered the time of their youth when life had been so carefree and winsome. The group headed towards the parking lot adjacent to the restaurant, the blonde in the quartet the obvious butt of some joke that had them all roaring with laughter.

"Honestly, Lily," one of the young men reprimanded in chiding tone. "You must learn to control your temper. I'm sure that waiter didn't mean to mistake you for a man." The blonde huffed in anger, cheeks enflamed red.

"Do I look like a man to you!?" she demanded, tossing a stray strand of fair hair over her shoulder in an obvious show of hurt pride. "I thought I was beautiful – it's why I won prom queen at high school! Plus, I was popular! All the boys said so."

"Popularly adorable," the redhead in the group giggled, trying to soothe her friend's ruffled feathers. "They're just kidding, Lily. Ignore them. They're brutes. Especially that boyfriend of mine over there." She gestured to the tall, lanky young man who had spoken before. He grinned at the comment before ruffling Lily's hair.

"Poor Lily-bird," he teased. "We'll make sure to dress you in a really hot number next time we come here." He turned to his friend. "Right, Kai?" The quiet youth looked up, a slow smile appearing like a ghost onto his rugged features.

"Why are you trying to put my girlfriend in a tight outfit?" he asked in an uncharacteristic display of humour. The redhead's eyebrows shot into her messy bangs and she hit her boyfriend in an obvious show of faked anger.

"Yeah! What are you doing suggesting that about _his_ girlfriend!?"

"Well…I…"

"Yamato!"

Lily rolled her eyes up towards the stars, ignoring the two as they walked towards the car they had all taken to get here. It was a rare nights when they were able to actually leave the university campus and spend quality time with one another. She linked her arm through her boyfriend's, sending him a radiant smile as they followed behind the bickering couple.

Shadows, following close behind, surged towards them.

_Who is the key?_

xxxxx

Author's Note: (6-24-04) Changed Lee's name to Kai. That's about it. Once again, early in the story, so I hope it won't confuse anyone in the future.

(5-2-04) Not much of a major change. I changed some people's names (the janitor, Ryo to Ryosei, Kuboshi to Yamato, and Shika to Shizuka), but fortunately, it's still early in the story so it shouldn't be that big of a deal. I wanted to make it more authentic in the Japanese names. ;

(4-20-04) And that's the first chapter of _Aeternum Vale_. I hope you guys like it so far. I'm not the best of writers, I know, and I'm still working on creating the mood and suspense for upcoming chapters. I'd love for you guys to review this story – it's my newborn baby, and its siblings are picking on it! Remember, it takes a village to raise a child, and it takes reviews to raise a story.

This chapter is dedicated to Sarah-chan, for making me realize that I am truly obsessed with _Fushigi Yugi_. (It must be all the bishonen!). Next thing I'll know, I'll probably end up doing a Rurouni Kenshin story – heaven help me if that's so, I've got too many other fanfictions to take care of. Plus, I have this habit of not writing SHORT chapters (this was a prologue, it didn't count). I don't feel that a story is a story without a chapter that reaches the 10000-word point. I'm sorry, guys! I try to be considerate with my readers, but sometimes I have this awesome idea that takes awhile to get across. (Ranting is good thing – I do it my essays all the time)

Now, I've decided to become an even cooler writer by, get this, writing side stories! Y'know, those crazy little things that my muse decides I should write. My muse, by the way, is a blue turtle made of smoked glass. It's just the CUTEST thing that I wear on top of my head whenever I'm feeling down. As of lately though, my muse has been missing so my stories haven't been exactly constant with the updates. (Cinderella, for instance).

By the way, the book that Ryo and Keiko are reading is _Death Comes for the Archbishop_ by Willa Cather – honestly, the most BORING book ever to be written on the face of the planet. It has absolutely no plot, no character development, and no interesting hula dancers! I hope _My Antonia_ wasn't that bad, because the Archbishop one sucked. (At least I got to rant in an essay on it about how it had no plot – I got a high score, too!)

So, who are these shadows stalking? (Like you don't know). The ride is just beginning, folks! Strap up and sit down, because the next chapter promises to answer some of these questions and more. (winks) Until then, _dasvidanya_!

- Nashie-chan


	2. Roads to the Past

Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yugi, but I do own this story and all new characters. I also own a really nifty pencil sharpener. Look! It can do tricks! (points)

Musical selection: "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)", performed by Green Day, from the Nimrod LSD

xxxxx

**- CHAPTER 01: ROADS TO THE PAST -**

xxxxx

Yuki Keisuke decided long ago that he was a calm man.

Not one of those scatterbrained folks who fell apart at the slightest hint of anxiety or trouble. Such consternation proved to be unfruitful, and only resulted in headaches and shabby rumours over someone's gallantry. Proving them wrong and become the swashbuckling hero, of course, resulted in fame, honour, and, of course, a large female following. It was only rewarded to those who could easily balance buckets of trouble with relative ease, and still flash an oh-so-charming smile at the horde of girls following. Composure was the key to success and the key to the opposite sex.

Telling people such things often resulted in their believing that he was a level-headed youth, equipped to handle problems of vast proportions and stress with virtual effortlessness and no ill-humour. It made good on job interviews, and with a dash of his charm added into the mix, nearly everyone was won over by his boyish attitude.

Yes. A calm man indeed.

"_MIAKA_! GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE, _NOW_!!!"

For the most part.

Keisuke wondered why in the world he hadn't postponed the luncheon date to a more reasonable hour, preferably an hour that didn't require Miaka to spend an extra two hours primping and pampering for it. He should have known that it would take his baby sister at least an hour to get ready, and then another hour to have a pre-luncheon snack. With all the food she ate, Keisuke thought it was only by some miraculous divine intervention (at this, he glared at the cheerful ruby phoenix that popped up in his mind) that she never gained a single pound. _Or at least all that running around she does to get to the places she's late at…why is that girl_ never _on time for anything_?

He shrugged his jacket on, prepared to leave without her if she didn't come to the front door within two minutes. This was absolutely ridiculous. One would think that seeing her beloved Taka would make her prepare faster than the speed of light. Yet, today, she must have forgotten who was supposed to be joining them for lunch in the first place.

Running a hand through honey blonde hair, he grimaced against the thought of taking the umbrella to her room, whacking her unconscious, and dragging her to lunch as she was. However, Yui would be furious, Tetsuya would tease him unmercifully, and Taka would beat him into a bloody pulp for touching his one true love.

_Gag me_, Keisuke thought with the insensitivity of one who has not yet met his soul mate, leaning against the wall and turning his eyes towards the stairs. He flinched as he heard a crash from down the hallway, followed by inane laughing. _I need a beer._

xxxxx

Down the hallway in her room, Yuki Miaka got up from the floor and rubbed her leg. It surely wasn't _her_ fault the stupid table hadn't held the weight of the pile of clothes she had thrown upon it. She decided to leave her mom a note about it, and then pay for it out of her job money. Not that she wanted to spend it on getting a new table – food was a much wiser and safer choice – but money didn't exactly grow on trees in the Yuki household. And Miaka knew better than to ask for money to pay for a broken object whose current state was obviously her own fault.

_Well, I can't be blamed_, Miaka thought, laughing. _I want to look good for Taka. And nothing I have in my closet looks right today_! She sighed grumpily, falling face first into the covers on her bed, ignoring the fact that she still had nothing on except her lacy undergarments. It was the first time in nearly three weeks that she had been able to be with Taka. His new job took up a lot of his time, alongside college, and she was no better off with her job as a daycare attendant. Keisuke, being the wonderful brother he was, suggested a luncheon for the group of friends, on a day that both Taka and Miaka had off from work.

Miaka had groaned at first, having looked forward to spending the entire in Taka's arms. But she soon cheered up – Yui was her best friend, and Tetsuya was one of coolest guys she knew. Besides, she knew that they had especially planned such an outing for them as group. And she loved the park too, so it had taken less than a few seconds to give her affirmative response to the request. The last time they had all been together in one place was six months ago, and six months was far too long a time to spend apart from such good friends.

"_MIAKA_!"

"I'm coming!" she yelled back in response, crawling from her bed, and grabbing the one thing decent she had found in her closet – a tan-colored sundress with tiny red flowers dotted all over it. Taka had bought it for her on her last birthday, and she had been positively thrilled that he had remembered (she never would have forgiven him if he hadn't). It was her second birthday with him in her life, and she knew with a swelling feeling of joy that it wouldn't be her last.

The petite brunette grabbed a brown leather coat from the back of her desk chair and shoved it on, beginning to randomly throw clothes back in their respective drawers. A whirlwind couldn't have done as much damage as she had, but what did she care? She had a date with Taka, and was spending time with her closest friends as well. It was going to be a fabulous day.

Miaka paused for a moment as she thought about that. _It's not entirely true, is it? All my closest friends aren't here…and I have no idea where they could possibly be_. She turned her head to the pictures that sat on her nightstand, the pictures she knew she could never live without. When seeing some of them, Miaka's mother had raised questioning eyebrows, but had allowed them to stay after Miaka's tearful insistence.

The first was of her, Yui, Tetsuya, Taka, and Keisuke the day they had visited the amusement park nearly a year ago. She recalled the jubilance of that day, especially when Taka had gotten extraordinarily sick and had spent the rest of the day with his face buried in a brown paper bag. Miaka had been furious with both him and Keisuke, who had the habit of sneaking up on people during their worst moments and taking candid pictures of them. Miaka wondered briefly if Taka was still paying her brother not to release _those_ pictures around the college campus.

She giggled at the mental image that presented as she gently touched the picture next to it of her and Taka. They had been in the park some months earlier when a 'photographer for hire', as Taka referred to them, showed up out of nowhere and asked to take a picture of them for fifty yen. Taka, showing a personality trait quintessential Tamahome, had believed the price far too high, but had finally been coerced by Miaka into taking the picture. She was glad it had been a beautiful day, or else the picture, she knew, would never have been worth the ice cream money she spent for it.

But the last picture only brought to her face a bittersweet smile as memories took her by a calm force, like the rolling of the tides. It had been taken in the book before they were to set sail in search of the shinzaho, before the day had ended in a tragedy that had marred the voyage. She had brought the camera from her world, and had gone around snapping pictures like a madwoman, taking as many candid pictures as she dared. Her friends had been startled by the workings of the camera, and she still laughed, remembering one certain red-haired bandit's reaction to it. This was the only picture she had of them all together, and she grinned sadly as she thought of what an odd group they had been: a child prodigy, a fiery-tempered bandit, a reserved healer, a cheerful monk, a cross-dressing beauty, a dashing miser, a benevolent emperor, and last of all, her, a regular Japanese schoolgirl.

She also knew that it had been the last time they were all together alive.

She put the picture down, shaking her head of the images that pierced her skull. _Why in the world am I thinking this? Keisuke is waiting for me…oh, no! Keisuke!_

Her task left incomplete, she raced out the room at breakneck speeds.

"Keisuke! Don't leave without me!" she screeched, flying down the hallway and through the living room towards the front door. She noticed blankly that he was still there, but it didn't register in her mind quick enough, and the speeds she had been running at finally caught up with her, to her dismay. With bone-cracking thud, she slammed right into the front door.

Keisuke blinked and laughed. "Gee, this seems familiar. Me, peeling you off some wall or door you've ran into? You're too obvious, Miaka!"

"Gehme uff," came the garbled response from the twitching human figure. Keisuke crossed his arms.

"I should just let you stick there, and let you consider how late you've made us," he replied with a smile. "But then again, we'd be even later! Don't worry, Miaka-chan! Big brother is here to save the day!"

A few minutes later, after squealing protests of pain from Miaka and choking laughter from Keisuke, they had managed to run to the bus stop just in time to catch the bus that was starting to pull away.

xxxxx

"They're late."

Yui glanced up from the book she was reading, and leveled a long look at the blue-haired youth sitting across from her at the picnic bench. It was the umpteenth time he had mentioned it, and she felt her nerves starting to fray from the repetition of the obvious state of affairs. "I've noticed, Taka-kun. I've noticed for the past half an hour, and the past two minutes you repeat the same mundane thing." Taka raised an eyebrow at her, and then frowned.

"You don't think anything happened to them?"

"Considering we're talking about Miaka here," Tetsuya drawled, peering out at the other young man from behind his trademark pair of sunglasses. "I highly doubt it. She probably couldn't find anything to wear…"

"Or she caused them to miss the bus…" Yui added helpfully.

"…so I wouldn't worry too much, Taka," the older youth advised, resting his cheek in his hand. "Keisuke wouldn't want to miss this, and it would take a pack of roving elephants and a large amount of sedatives to keep Miaka away from the promise of food."

Taka grunted in response, and Yui rolled her eyes, trying to hold in laughter, both of them knowing what Tetsuya had said was true. Miaka's appetite was famous (or was that infamous?) among their clique of friends, and the legends stemming from it were never too far from the truth. Even in worst-case scenarios, the subject of food always brought the lovable girl to a screeching halt. Of course, her hunger always seemed to get the best of her at the most inconvenient of times.

Taka leaned back on the bench, resting on his elbows and looking out over the sparsely crowed park. "I'm still surprised Keisuke didn't buy that car you told him about. It was a good price, and nice looking too. Lots of miles to the gallon, and all that." Tetsuya grunted.

"Keisuke's been spending too much time with you the past two years," he grumbled, peering at the younger man over the edge of his sunglasses. "He saw the price and nearly freaked. I think he muttered something about being economical and conventional, but I just call that being cheap." He sighed. "Honestly, Taka, you two are a couple of peas in a pod. The only thing you don't have in common is Keisuke's habit of chasing every living thing with the double X-chromosome."

Taka grinned widely as Yui shot Tetsuya a long, reprimanding look. "Why would I do that when I have a girlfriend who chases every edible thing that used to have chromosomes?" The two young men laughed as Yui clucked her tongue in mock disgust, turning her attention back to her book. A slight breeze lifted her long tendrils of sand-blonde hair to gently caress her cheeks. Since her and Miaka's return from the book, she purposely decided to let her hair grow long (with much of Miaka's giggling advice – the brunette always enjoyed playing with new styles on her friend's head). Sometimes she wondered why she let her friend talk her into such things. Though it was longer and more glamourous than it had been when she was fifteen, she still found it an unnecessary hassle to deal with it every morning.

_Almost two years ago_, she mused thoughtfully, staring blankly at the characters in the book in front of her. Her fifteenth year had been one of her most challenging – for reasons educational, emotional, and psychological. _Or should I say almost three years, if you take into account the time actually spent in the book_? She always found that part disturbing – no matter how old she was, she would always have to add a year to her presumed age. It was a side effect of the book she found most disconcerting, especially when she considered the one afternoon Miaka had returned to their world all those years ago. One afternoon had equaled three months of doubting and pain in her heart, feelings that were dark, forbidden, and catastrophic…

The train of thought stopped abruptly as Yui shook her head to dive out of the thickening cloud of black memories. It didn't matter anymore, she constantly told herself. What had happened back then only made her and Miaka stronger, reinforcing the ties of their friendship that Yui had so bitterly cut off due to a one general's manipulation. Even the brief thought of him sent sharp, bone-cracking chills cresting down her spine. She had never hated him, not even now.

What did she feel?

Yui gave a brief glance at her watch and shifted nervously. _Well, we promised we would go today. No backing out now…_

"Are you still planning on joining me after the picnic for that visit?" Yui casually asked Taka, catching his gray gaze in earnest. A questioning smile appeared slowly on his face – he already knew the point of the question and the careful wording she had used to phrase it. He gave a slow nod, and received a grateful smile in return. Tetsuya glanced at his girlfriend, then back at Taka, a curious frown beginning to form on his lips.

"A visit? Where to?" he inquired. Yui winced at the question.

"The library," she replied slowly, wondering if it was actually better for him to know the entire truth or the half-truth.

"I hope you're not going there to see a certain book." At Taka and Yui's guilty silence, the dark-haired young man's brow furrowed in disapproval, and Yui at once regretted her words. Though willing and eager to help the denizens and former priestesses of the book whenever the time called for it, Tetsuya was a vigilant youth who didn't see the necessity of plunging ahead into apparent jeopardy. "That book is dangerous, you two. The reason we left it in the library was so that we wouldn't ever go back to it."

"We need to get that book, Tetsuya," said Taka quietly, running a hand through his hair. "It's a mistake of ours that's been sitting with me ever since we left it there last year. It can be potentially dangerous to anyone else who might come across it. What if it starts taking new priestesses to replace the old ones? Don't you remember what happened last time a certain villain tried something along those lines? It should be safer with us."

"I wish it could be destroyed," Yui murmured quietly. The two young men turned her, caught off guard by the wistful longing in her voice – and perhaps a hint of something else? "It may mean the world to Miaka – that's where her friends are – but it's too dangerous to leave lying around for anyone to pick up. That's why Taka and I are visiting the library today. We're going to see if the library will let us have the book." Tetsuya sighed and shook his head, but said no more on the subject. Taka took his quick, reluctant silence as an approval for their trip. But Yui knew better. Tetsuya knew that no matter what he said, either one of the two would still go to the library and get the book. He didn't give up his opinion – he just resolved not to get into a heated discussion over it that would probably end up marring the rest of the day.

Yui looked down at her book again, the characters blurring together in her eyes as her mind once again drifted away from the late fall day in the park. She hadn't told Taka about her dream though, and resolved to keep her mouth shut over it. It was another reason why she suggested they take the trip to the library. Something in her subconscious warned her that their group needed to be in possession of the book soon. Perhaps it was due to the fact that within a few months time, they would be celebrating ('_Celebrating_'? her logical mind questioned) the two-year-anniversary of the day she and Miaka first stumbled across the ShiJinTenChiSho. She just prayed with all of her heart that nothing would try to rip away the peaceful veil of happiness that had settled onto their lives. It would break her heart if she had to watch everything they had strived to achieve in the past few years torn to shreds – or even worse, have the events of the book return with a sadistic, nauseating reality.

_Seiryu, please do not let this life be temporary…_

Yui was about to turn the page of her novel, when a cheerful yell erupted from a few dozen yards away. She shook the murky thoughts out of her head and managed to hide a grin as several heads turned toward a smiling Miaka as she bounded towards them like some sort of drug-possessed puppy. Taka gave an embarrassed little wave, though the warm affection in his eyes belied the apprehension on his face as Miaka tackled her beloved with a flying hug of doom. Tetsuya, sitting on the opposite side of the table, chuckled quietly as Keisuke warily approached his friends.

"Ohaiyo gozaimasu!" Miaka greeted enthusiastically, untangling herself from Taka. Her green eyes sparkled brightly in the morning sunshine as she situated herself between Taka and Keisuke, still holding tight to Taka's arm. "I'm so sorry we're late, but I honestly couldn't find anything to wear, and then we almost missed the bus…what's so funny?"

Miaka's confused look only deepened as Taka, Tetsuya, and Yui burst into laughter. She gave Keisuke a look, but his bemused smile refused to convey anything except loving amusement. She pouted slightly and gave Taka a light punch to the arm. "Taka…"

Taka grinned at his girlfriend and gave her quick sideways hug. "You know how predictable you are, Miaka?" He kissed her on the nose. "You're just too funny sometimes."

"I didn't think it was that funny…besides, you guys know that nothing can keep me away from a decent meal." She turned to her best friend, a wide smile appearing on pixie features. "So, what did you bring? Your mom always makes the best petite fours!" Yui giggled as her friend's eyes became a tad glazed over at the thought of the tiny, frosted sponge cakes that were her mother's specialty. Some things never changed, no matter how many trials and tribulations might befall one.

Keisuke pulled a large wicker basket out from beneath the table, wagging his finger. "Now, why would you put food underneath the table? The ants would get to it before we did."

"If Miaka saw the basket in broad daylight, it would be like babysitting a couple of sugar-high two-year-olds – complete and total chaos," Tetsuya murmured, completely deadpan. Miaka let an indignant squawk as Taka smirked at the accusation. Keisuke nodded in mock solemnity while Yui hid her smile behind her hands so as not to provoke Miaka any further. When Miaka finally managed to break out of her stunned silence, she gave Tetsuya a playful whap on the hand before opening the lid of the picnic basket to sniff inside.

"Let's see what we have here…ooh…watercress sandwiches…with just the slightest pinch of mustard… homemade baked chicken completed with paprika and lemon sauce…yet not to be outdone by mouthwatering cheddar and bleu cheese and…what's this…kiwi and pineapple with freshly picked mandarin oranges!? Yui – you have outdone yourself this time…what?"

The seventeen-year-old lifted her head to look at the stunned expressions on her friend's faces. They were staring at her with a mix of awe and incredulity. After a few moments, she wrinkled her nose in embarrassment. "What? Really? What did I do?"

"You could tell all of that by simply smelling it…?" Yui gaped out.

"You guys act as if that's something new. I'm just a…connoisseur when it comes to food, I guess."

"And you're using big words!?"

"Hey…what's that supposed to mean…?"

No matter what, something's never changed.

xxxxx

The young woman looked up the stairs to the shrine above her, her hands folded gracefully behind her back. The delicate, expensive fabric and intricate details of her clothes, and the woven lilac braids that contributed to her elaborate hairstyle visibly told the world that this woman was someone of high rank and privilege. Her face was serene, yet her turquoise eyes were a mixture of turmoil and grief. She peered behind her, towards the setting sun, and then her eyes gazed around the quickly-appearing starry expanse until she found what she was looking for – seven shining Southern constellations.

A poignant smile appeared on her beautiful features as she ascended the staircase, gathering the folds of her skirt into her pale, delicate hands. She walked slowly, as if not wanting to disturb the peace of the night. The early evening crickets chirped around her, leading the opening of a nocturnal orchestra. Long shadows cast against dark golden light swept quietly across the buildings surrounding the shrine. Vines crept along the sides the walls, untrimmed in years, and ran rampant to create a sort of mystical fortress in the dying sun's light.

Perhaps it was mystical.

She reached the doors that led inside the shrine, and looked around quickly to make sure that no one was watching her. Then, quietly, she opened one of the red wooden doors and slipped inside.

The inside was as dark as she expected it to be, save for the red-gold light of the last beams of the morning star bursting through barred windows and the sliver of space under the door. The room was decently sized, completely wooden, except the golden statue that rose magnificently near the back of the room. As always, the shrine smelled of incense, a smoky, sweet aroma that always brought on waves of nostalgia. She was the only one who visited it any more. She suspected that when he was here, he did too, but she hadn't seen him in so long, she suspected that the memories that were contained in here were often too much for him to bear.

So much happened back then. If she waited and closed her eyes, she could almost sense the ghosts of the pasts rising up in this shrine, hear their voices hushed in private conversations, see them intangible, feel their ki which even time could not erase from these walls. Everything was silent except for her own breathing, which she quieted to make as unnoticeable as possible, and closed her eyes.

He would be waiting near the golden phoenix, elegantly clothed, a small smile on his lips, softening his features, making him younger. The other, shorter and eternally cheerful behind an enigmatic mask, would be resting next to him, talking quietly despite the brash, strident arguments of the two younger, more spirited warriors of the group. Watching the argument with bemused certainty, another would be standing, beautiful no matter what clothing he wore, standing next to the quiet man with the sad eyes. And the little one, reading quietly, gazing up every so often to peer at the others, his role models, his brothers.

And then the ghosts would disappear, gone in a fragmented memory, and all would fade to quiet again. The reality of the room would presume. It no longer had its luster, its life. It had been a time of innocence and power, but it was gone now. It had left with them. Most of them had been children, no more, no less. The glory of Konan, the glory of Suzaku, had rested on the shoulders of those spirited youngsters…all lost in the flow of time, never more to recapture the days of light.

She approached the statue in the back, her footsteps padding quietly across the mahogany floor. It was a graceful sculpture, a flaming gold when hit by the sun's late afternoon light. The detail done with the feathers and the wings spoke of a devoted, skilled artist who had obviously put great care into capturing the fluid grace and dignity of their patron god. The magnificent phoenix was raised on a black pedestal, surrounded on both sides by flowing crimson silk. Spread across the wooden table in front of the statue was a thick sheet of black velvet, which hadn't been disturbed in years, as seen in the thin layer of dust that had settled upon it.

But the objects on the table were as pristine as if they had been placed there yesterday.

The young woman sighed, bowing her head in reverence and placing her hands together in prayer, her lips moving soundlessly in the quiet oasis. When she had finished, she opened her eyes and two clear tears slipped down her cheeks. Her hand moved to gently rest on one of the items, an elaborate sword, before moving to touch the pair of bracelets lying next to it. Her eyes fell upon the two other items at the table – a rolled-up scroll and a mortar – and she placed her hand back at her side.

"It's been seven years, Your Highness, Kourin," she whispered quietly. "Seven long years without either of you. Do you know that it's the anniversary of the day Konan and Kutou ended their war? It's been hard, to lead this country without either of you here. I doubt I'll ever have your compassion, Your Highness, or your optimism, Kourin."

She sighed. "I miss you both so much. I wish that you were still here to guide me, to help me in some way. But that would be selfish, wouldn't it?" She looked down at the items on the table. "He doesn't come here much anymore, does he? I suspected he wouldn't. Every time he left this shrine, he would look so sad, no matter how much he tried to hide it. I don't know where he is. But I hope he has found peace. There was so much grief in his heart.

"Nothing will be as it was seven years ago. We won't ever have the time of happiness again, will we? Everything is so tense now…I hope I can be strong for the rest of the country to depend upon. Please, lend me your strength. Suzaku, lend me your strength so that I may have the will to carry my country through these times."

She paused then as her voice became too choked with emotion for her to continue. Silently, she bowed her head one more, not even trying to stop the tears from falling now. "Hear my prayers, Suzaku. Protect us in these times. Protect your followers, and show us your kindness and mercy." Then, she lifted her face to the heavens, sadness penetrating the wooden walls of the shrine.

Without another word, only a final look of parting to the articles on the table, Dowager Empress Houki turned and departed from the shrine of Suzaku.

xxxxx

Miaka chewed thoughtfully on her sandwich before nodding in agreement. "They should go. That book really is dangerous. Besides," she added cheerfully, "I don't want to disappear because someone decided to replace me as the Suzaku no miko. That's my job, and my job alone."

Keisuke grunted and rolled his eyes. "Of course…no one could go and put herself in so much danger except for you. How many times did you haphazardly run off, causing your seishi to go looking for you?" Miaka blushed at the comment as Taka began ticking off his fingers, obviously recounting the events when Miaka had caused her seishi headaches beyond belief.

Tetsuya had casually mentioned Taka and Yui's post-picnic trip to Miaka and Keisuke well into dessert. Though Yui was slightly annoyed that her boyfriend had let the information spill, she knew he only did out of concern for her safety. Miaka had at first reacted in shock that Yui would even consider returning the library to get the book, while Keisuke had taken on a sudden serious demeanor, his face carefully blank. But after Taka had given the two their reasons for taking the book, Miaka had reverted back to her chipper, optimistic mood.

"I wish I could go with you," she mused, looking at her sandwich. "But I told Kishi-san that I would baby-sit Rita-chan after the picnic." From the look on her face, the other could tell that she desperately wanted to look at the book one more time, to remember the adventures, both exciting and heart wrenching, that she had had in the book almost two years prior. Taka smiled gently and laced her fingers though his own, bringing her close into a warm hug.

"When we bring it back, you'll have all the time in the world to look through those pages," he teased gently. "But promise me that you won't get sucked in like you did last time." Miaka grinned in spite of herself, and snuggled closer to the teal-haired young man. Keisuke made a slight gagging noise from the opposite side of the table, and mimed choking himself. Taka took the opportunity to throw a muffin at him with his free hand, which caught the blonde right in the mouth. Keisuke blinked, surprised at finding a large lemon poppy-seed muffin sprouting out of his mouth.

Yui smiled, patting him on the back. "And that's what you get for opening your mouth too wide!" At this, she and Miaka burst into girlish giggles. Keisuke glared daggers at them, trying to look cross, but failing miserably – it probably had something to do with the muffin emerging from his mouth like some sort of evil rabid pastry. He reached up to take the muffin from his mouth, taking a bite while he did so.

"Har-dee-har-har," Keisuke grumbled after swallowing the yellow mass. "I'll remember that next time, Miaka, when you want me to take you to lunch. Just remember the day you yelled at your 'nii-chan when he had a muffin stuffed in his mouth."

"You know that English phrase 'open mouth, insert muffin?'" Yui asked Miaka sweetly, completely ignoring the blonde's huff of anger. "I think we finally found someone who took it seriously."

"This was funny…about five minutes ago."

"You're such a rotten tomato, 'nee-chan!"

"Or an overcooked muffin."

"Argh!"

Taka and Tetsuya wisely decided to stay out of the conversation, lest they find themselves in a similar situation like their blonde-haired friend. Yui and Miaka were eagerly whelping on the unfortunate young man, who was trying his best to ignore their poking and prodding at his quickly evaporating humour. Taka hid a grin as Yui compared Keisuke to a fast-food hybrid hamburger – all he needed was a shake and turkey to fit the muffin in his mouth. Though Keisuke was obviously confused by the reference, Yui and Miaka fell over in hysterical giggles at their inside joke. Keisuke turned wide, desperate eyes to his two friends, in an obvious 'help me' ploy. Tetsuya waved his hands in front of his face, and pointed towards Taka.

"That's the guy you want," he teased, "not me."

"And have Miaka turn her teasing onto me? You guys must have never heard her horse joke…"

Miaka's eyes shimmered in annoyance. "I thought it was funny! Besides, I was trying to liven up the mood! It was like traveling with a bunch of mimes! And you were no help either, pouting and complaining the entire way there!"

Yui held up her hand to pause the brief, teasing lover's quarrel. "Now, now. Taka, you're not one to criticize. Keisuke told me about your jokes from the book too. And they aren't exactly the pick of the litter."

"Humour doesn't run in the Suzaku family," Taka muttered in his defense.

Keisuke gave him a light punch to the arm. "Oh, I wouldn't say that. You, Tasuki, and Nuriko often had me on the floor, gasping for breath. I mean, come on. You three were the most rambunctious…"

"We were just energetic…"

"Easily annoyed…"

"It's not being annoyed, it's not being able to put up with sheer stupidity…!"

"Flamboyant…"

"Hey! I wasn't-"

"…of all the Suzaku seishi!" Keisuke finished with a wink. Taka scowled as Tetsuya hid a brief smirk, opening a can of soda and handing it to the upset young man. Taka graciously accepted, and took a long swig before glaring once more at his girlfriend's brother, who pretended innocence. "Now, Taka. You know I'm right. You all broke more expensive vases in the Imperial Palace…"

"That was all Tasuki's fault! He never kept his big mouth shut!"

"Yes, blame the person who can't be here to defend himself."

Taka was about to reply when a cheerful laugh broke the banter. He turned to see Miaka shaking at his side, hands clasped over her mouth to unsuccessfully stifle girlish giggles. The other three youths at the table shared surprised looks before giving Miaka worried glances. Taka placed a hand on her shoulder, a brief smile quirking up his boyish features. "Miaka?"

The small pretty girl looked up at her friends through tear-glassed eyes, her face pink with mirth. For a moment, she was only able to laugh uncontrollably before she gasped out, "It _was_ always Tasuki's fault!" With this, she burst into more rows of giggles, continuing, "Always saying something to provoke someone else…and never being sorry about it either!" Her tone had slowly slipped from reminiscent to awkwardly sad, her lower lip trembling slightly. "Always loud, always brash. Only Chichiri and Mitsukake had the patience to deal with him…and even then…" She took in a shaky sigh. "Even then…only Chichiri could really understand him…after those two years there…by themselves…"

Yui at once realized the source of Miaka's sudden distress, and her brow knitted together in both concern and understanding. She reached across the table to take Miaka's hand in her own, a comforting smile on her face. Miaka looked up to peer at her best friend, and was surprised to see almost the same sadness reflected in the blonde's eyes. "It'll be okay, Miaka. They won't be alone forever. I know it." Miaka sniffed quietly as Taka drew her into a hug.

"Besides, they both have each other to drive insane, remember?" he asked with a brief chuckle and giving her a playful noogie. "You think Tasuki is going to be lonely with Chichiri popping in on him all the time. And Kouji with him too? And you know that Chichiri could scarcely feel alone, with all that traveling he does."

Quieter now: "And they'll have another chance…all of them…"

Miaka nodded, appreciating that Taka hadn't said that last part loud enough for the others to hear. She quickly wiped her eyes of tears that had spilled over and placed a sweet, apologetic smile on her face. "Gomen ne, everyone. I didn't mean to ruin the picnic by crying…" She trailed off, ducking under the table for a brief instant. Taka shook his head as a warning to the others, to tell them that they shouldn't continue the current conversation.

Miaka's head popped back over the edge of the table, grinning widely as she help up a bright orange volleyball in her hands. "I challenge all of you to face the champion volleyball girl of the world! Let's see if you can triumph over the power of Miaka-chan's unbelievable moves!" She hopped over the seat of the picnic bench, grabbed five sandwiches (stuffing three of them into her mouth), and gestured wildly for her friends to join her. "Cub oh! Cub oh!"

Taka, Yui, Tetsuya, and Keisuke shared similar amused looks before the shouts of challenge rang clear in all of them. They jumped out of their seats and joined the small brunette on the grassy, sun-splotched playing area. Miaka watched as they came towards her, twirling the volleyball in hands with a mixture of anticipation and excitement, trying to block out the twisted memories of her nightmare that shrouded around her heart and her mind.

She had told him about her nightmare, which had thankfully only occurred once, but had left her sweating, screaming, crying, and gasping for breath when she was wrenched viciously from the terrifying dream. She had sobbed quietly in her room for nearly an hour before sneaking refuge in Taka's apartment early the next morning. He had found her curled up under his chin when his alarm clock went off, still fully dressed in her fall jacket and scarf, tear stains wiped across apple-like cheeks…

xxxxx

The annoying consistent blaring of the alarm clock cut off shortly after his fist smashed directly onto the snooze button. The alarm clock made a few protesting noises, but soon fell silent after a barrage of more sleep-guided punches. The body to which the arm belonged to shifted restlessly beneath warm sheets, only to find that most of them were pinned by something. A small something, but still a problem nonetheless.

One eye creaked open, followed by another, until the gray gaze had somewhat of a coherent view of whatever was preventing him from winding the sheets around his muscular frame. At first, all he saw was a tangle of dark brown interwoven with two innocent pink ribbons. Another blink to clear out the blurriness that came with awakening revealed that the mass of brown was surrounding a skull. Yet another blink revealed that the skull belonged to a female, evident in the long, dusky lashes, delicate features, and other certain…portions of anatomy that were currently all snuggled against him.

His first reaction was to leap out of bed, wondering who the heck this person was, though the logical portion of his brain which was also waking up, told him not to be stupid – it was Miaka. His second reaction was to slowly sit up and gaze down at the petite body of his girlfriend. She was draped in her pear-green fall jacket, fists gripping the sheets surrounding Taka like a petulant child. Her brow was creased in agitation and her lower lip trembled as a few protesting moans escaped from parted lips – all signs of an ongoing nightmare.

Taka immediately shook the brunette's shoulders – _when did she get here?_ – and quietly called out her name repeatedly until lashes lifted to reveal emeralds, slightly tinged with darkness despite the pre-dawn light seeping into the room. She looked up at Taka, not comprehending for a moment, before she let out a strangled sob and threw herself into his arms.

"Oh, gods, they're gone! Taka, they're gone! And I tried and I couldn't save them! And I couldn't, but I tried! But they're gone! Taka, they were scared and then they were gone! Oh, gods…oh, gods…!"

Her troubled, angst-filled babble caused Taka to feel his heart ache as her own feelings of shock, guilt, and terror crept into him. He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding the priestess close to his chest as she sobbed raggedly, quietly murmuring the same thing over and over again, "oh, gods…oh, gods…no, no, no…"

"Shh, silly girl. It'll be alright. I'm here. I won't let the nightmares hurt you," he whispered soothingly into her strawberry-scented hair. His former confusion had dissipated into worry and concern over Miaka, who, although cried a lot, was never this distraught over something. He remembered only a few times when such tears had been nearly hysterical, and none of them had resulted from dreams she had had. Though darkness often tinged her eyes after a particularly disturbing nightmare, the shadows would soon vanish in the presence of her friends' ability to cheer her up.

_What could she possibly have dreamt about_, he thought to himself as her sobs of grief subsided. _What would hurt her this much?_ He shifted slightly, pulling Miaka away by the shoulders so that he would look into her eyes, red-rimmed and stricken. He bit his lower lip as a sharp pang shot through his heart, before quietly inquiring, "Miaka? Are you alright?"

A moment of silence, and then, "Hai."

"Want to tell me about it?"

The next lapse of calm extended even longer, almost long enough to make him wonder if she had even heard the question. Finally, she looked away, a stray tear slipping down her cheek after a vain effort to keep it away. "It was them, Taka. Our seishi…I remembered them…but…I remembered…" She began to shiver, causing her teeth to clink together. "I remembered them…dying…Tasuki and Chichiri too…and they did it for me…but I didn't help them…I stood by and laughed…thinking…I thought…it was just a game…just a silly game where…they would all have to follow me…and it didn't matter…if…it didn't matter to me…if they all…" Her voice tore on a choked sob, and she began to weep again, burying her face in her hands. "Oh…gods…they died for me…and I laughed! I laughed at it! It was just a game between me and Yui…but I won because in the end…I still had you…and I laughed at Yui…and I held the knife…and they were scared…oh, gods! Taka! I killed them! I killed them all!"

_No, never!_ His mouth was dry in shock, and his mind was reeling at the force of the words. He tightened his grip on Miaka's shoulders, giving her a firm, rough shake. The girl stopped whimpering for a moment to give him a look of intense self-loathing. He stifled a cry, managing out, "Stop it, Miaka. Stop it now! How dare you even think you were guilty of their deaths…the person who should be blamed is that bastard Nakago! He took four of the most wonderful people in the world away from us – and then made you think that it was all your fault!"

"But…in my dream…"

"Your _dream_, Miaka. It's not real. You know how it really happened. I was there with you. I saw how you cried when Nuriko died in my arms, when Chiriko sacrificed himself for us all, when Mitsukake used the last of his lifeforce to save so many, when Hotohori fell on the battlefield…damn it, Miaka! I was there!" Tears were streaming down his eyes now, but he did not curse them away. These bitter memories were reminders of his ultimate failures – failures to save their friends…_his _brothers. "I saw their blood spilt, and I saw them breathe their last. And I wonder why I was lucky enough to escape." His last words were severe and caught Miaka off guard.

"Because I-"

She stopped, seeing showers of tears spill from rain-gray eyes. "Miaka, they died for us. They died protecting you, making sure that you could live. They cared about their country, and were ready to make sacrifices for it…but ultimately they died for _you_. They didn't want to see you cry, which was why I was lucky. Because by protecting you, they saved me…and I'll always be thankful to them for that. Always." He gripped her cold hands in his own. "So don't you dare say it's your fault that they died. They wouldn't have had it any other way. If you're happy, they're happy. So don't cry, Miaka. Please don't cry."

Miaka let out a small sob, the last of many, before throwing her arms around her love's neck, holding him close in a fierce, defiant hug. "I promise I won't! I won't let them sad…not after what they've done for me, after what they've given me…" Taka smiled as he clung to the small priestess of Suzaku.

"_Wo ai ni, _Miaka_…_"

xxxxx

Taka looked over as the downtown portion of Tokyo sped by at amazing pace. His first experience on the fast moving train had left him dizzy with awe, and he recalled with an inward chuckle Keisuke's embarrassed reaction of having to sit in the same group of seats with him. Of course, then he had been completely Tamahome. Sukunami Taka had come into the picture much later, much to the chagrin of Miaka's heart.

He glanced over at Yui, who was patiently gazing out the window with something akin to sadness in her eyes. Their departure from Miaka, Keisuke, and Tetsuya had been cheerful, but the shadows in Miaka's eyes proved to cause a dark cloud to loom over everyone's heads. Taka had tried to get a meaningful giggle out of the tiny brunette, but had failed as the memories of yesteryear swept over Miaka's consciousness. Her obviously removed state became apparent as entire minutes of conversation would sweep by without her taking part in them, as she usually did.

Yui had also been uncannily silent soon after the group dispersed. A ghost of a smile had appeared on her features when Miaka demanded that Keisuke and Tetsuya take her for an afternoon snack, but the smile had failed to reach her eyes, which were gloomy in thought. Taka often wondered if he was the only once who wasn't afflicted with the shadows of nightmares. Even Miaka's confession in him so many weeks before had failed to conjure up any nightmares within him. He had thought his memories of the past, dark, bloody, and revolting, would take him by surprise and leave him bereft of a good night's sleep. But, no. Instead, he hadn't had any dreams of any sort since Miaka had told him about her devastating nightmare.

He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried.

He peeked over at Yui once again, frowning as he realized that she wasn't planning on participating in any conversation if she could help it. _Wonder why she's so worked up about retrieving that book…it can't be because of what Tetsuya said…and Miaka even agreed that we should go…_

Unlike his other male friends, Taka couldn't really comprehend why they didn't want him to retrieve the book. After all, it was far safer in their hands than in anyone else's. And that was saying a lot, considering what Keisuke had mentioned earlier concerning him being one of the more rambunctious seishi. Of course, that was when he was seventeen, and in a completely different time period and universe.

The train slowly rolled to a stop, and a handful of people gathered their things and made their way to the door. Yui was up even before the train had come to a completely stop, her eyes distant with memory and something else Taka couldn't identify. He followed after her as the doors closed behind him, exiting with three other people. The train had stopped in the station just a block away from the library, and yet he still didn't think he would be able to get Yui to open up and talk with him. They climbed up the stairs into daylight, and he blinked from the change of artificial fluorescents to pure ultraviolet rays.

"Taka, I have a question for you."

Well, that was a surprise, that she would offer to spark a conversation before he did. Taka glanced over at the small blonde girl, and raised a questioning eyebrow. "Hai?"

Yui frowned, her brow furrowing as if she were struggling to find a way to put into words the thought in her head. Finally, she asked hesitantly, "Has Miaka had any nightmares recently? I mean, not that she shouldn't. No, that's not what I mean. What I'm saying…what I'm asking…" She stopped, both in her speaking and her walking, causing Taka to come to an abrupt halt as well. "Has Miaka dreamt about her seishi recently? Like, nightmares?"

Taka frowned. "Why do you ask?"

Yui actually blushed and turned her head slightly, to avoid looking directly into his gray eyes. "It's silly. I think that since it's only a few more months before the anniversary, we might start having weird dreams." She resumed her gait, still not looking up.

Taka twisted his mouth around into an uncanny expression, remaining silent before quietly asking, "Have you?"

A pause. "No. Not really." Inside, she flinched at the lie, but she had some sort of feeling deep within her heart that such emotions of fear and confessions of a dark destiny should not yet be revealed. There would soon be a time when such thoughts would come bubbling out, but she only that one qualm of revealing into Taka. Instead, she placed a reassuring smile on her face, and shook her head. "I'm just being a little foolish, Taka. It's nothing, really. Just a few thoughts of mine."

"You sure?"

"I can never be too sure!" she said jokingly, turning the corner. She stopped for a moment, gazing up at the grand state of the National Library, a reminiscent smile appearing her face. "Two years, Taka. How much time do you think has passed in the book?"

"Two years? I don't know. Last time we were there, after almost a year, two years had passed there. You can hardly ever tell with this book." He started walking towards the front of the building, and a smiling Yui followed, despite the sudden thunderous beating in her heart. Why was she so scared to confront the book? She almost felt the shadows of darkness that had once engulfed her heart so many years earlier were threatening to regain themselves.

Taka sprinted up to the front door to pull it open…

…and found himself pulling a locked door.

He looked back at Yui with a confused frown on his face before peering inside through the glass. "Looks like no one's here. That's weird. The library's usually open on Saturdays." Yui joined him, and checked the other doors, but all resulted in the same thing. None of them would open, and there appeared to be no life within the library at all.

"They might be closed due a broken water pipe or something," Yui noted. She felt both disappointed and relived that they couldn't enter the library. It wasn't as if the book were going anywhere any time soon, but somehow, she felt that they needed it in their hands today, as soon as possible. She glanced at Taka's downcast face. "Don't worry, Taka. We can always check back here tomorrow. Unlike some places, the library can't stay closed forever. Remember, as Miaka would say, the National Library _is_ national!" Taka snorted.

"She would say something like that," he murmured, giving the library one last look. "Guess nothing lost is nothing gained. Let's try back on Monday, after I get off from work. Maybe this time, Miaka might even want to join us."

"That's like asking a little child if they want to go to the candy store," Yui said with a grin.

Taka laughed at the joke as they walked towards the subway station, passing by another loner as he walked towards the library. But by that time, Yui and Taka had already turned the corner and were unaware of the passerby's destination. He watched as the two disappeared around the corner before resuming his journey, eyes shadowed from behind sunglasses, his baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. He walked unhurriedly up the stairs leading to the doors of the library, turned to glance over his shoulder, and yanked the door open. No alarm sounded from his sudden presence and he walked into the library and disappeared into the shadows created by the tall bookshelves.

The only remaining of his presence was a faint golden glow on the door handle.

xxxxx

Author's Note: (5-21-04) Thoroughly depressed myself writing the ghost scene from Houki's portion. But it's something I feel whenever I go into an empty room that I'm so used to seeing filled. When I close my eyes, I can hear people talking, I see them…all in my mind's eye. (sighs) Reminiscing is really tough, as it always brings back bittersweet memories. (P.s., Houki is very, very cool…of course, anyone who resembles one of my favourite characters is cool…)

(5-1-04) Bad Nashie! Introducing yet another mystery character. (grins) I actually cut this chapter short. I mean, how much adventure can there be going to the library? There were at least three different scenes that were originally supposed to affect Yui and Taka, but all resulted in the same thing – they would not be able to reach the book, yet under the circumstances, they would have thought nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

Let's see…I have a head full of ideas for this story, but I have to get the ball rolling first (Nashie's no good at starting things off). I've already whet your appetite with the prologue, and now the first chapter. I'm actually doing a lot better with progressing this story than Cinderella. But unfortunately, AP exams are at the end of this week, and I need to study in order to pass them (at least the U.S. History one…my teacher taught basically nothing all year).

Also, I've been busy with my art portfolio project, which is about to get even busier as I start editing the pics in Photoshop. If anybody wants to see the final result, all the edited pictures should be up by the end of May or the first week of June on my account at I'm so happy that school will be ending next month (cheers). But not too good, because then I'll be working practically full-time with little time to work on my fanfiction. Don't worry, though. I'll try to make sure these stories don't go into a permanent hiatus.

And one question: Does anybody know the name of Miaka and Keisuke's mom? Or does she have one?

Now it's off for me to begin Chapter 2, which will introduce another character and tangle the web even more. Gracious, toda al mundo. Hasta luego.

- Nashie-chan


	3. Burning the Golden Pond

Disclaimer: Believe it or not, I don't own Fushigi Yugi. It's a nice thought, but alas, I scarcely own the clothes on my back. Besides, if I owned such an awesome anime, I don't think I'd be writing fanfiction about it. Something about that's just wrong. I only write this fanfiction for my enjoyment and the enjoyment of my readers. The storyline/plot and all original characters are mine and cannot be used without my permission. So ask first.

Oh, and for otaku-no-miko's question from the prologue, I can't tell you who the key is or what the shadows are! That would be giving away the plot!

Speaking of plot, I was reading Kaze-chan's "Rebirth and Regain" story (which is awesome!), and in her earlier chapters, she spoke of an overdone plot, one of which was the reincarnation story. (grins) Um…well, this happens to be a reincarnation story, but I hope that it is extremely different than the others out there. Besides, I have a real logical reason for the seishi being reborn. What is it? Well, you're gonna have to wait until part two. (A lot of stuff will be answered in part two…yeah…)

Musical selection: "Nature Boy", performed by David Bowie, from the _Moulin Rouge_ soundtrack

xxxxx

**- CHAPTER 02: BURNING THE GOLDEN POND -**

xxxxx

"Is there a reason you're still here?"

Miaka watched as her brother pawed through the cabinets in search for anything edible for breakfast. She herself had settled for a bowl of cereal and an orange (an odd case for someone with such a gargantuan appetite), but her older brother seemed to be looking for something more substantial and was currently on an undying quest to find the Golden Breakfast. Currently, the stove was occupied by a skillet of five pieces of bacon and another skillet of an omelet that smelled as if it was burning. She chewed thoughtfully, before repeating her question.

Keisuke paused, his head buried deep into the refrigerator. "I'm taking you to school this morning. I don't have classes until ten, and I had to pick something up from Mom. Answer your question?"

"Maybe. And what are you looking for?"

"Something that's preferably delicious and satisfying," came the reply as the blonde edged himself out of the fridge looking a tad bit disappointed. He turned to give Miaka a look before opening the freezer door and glancing through that too. "But it seems as if it's been awhile since Mom has gone shopping for breakfast food. I mean, man…"

"I heard that, young man," a voice called, and Yuki Chikuma swept into the room, wearing a tan suit, her dark hair combed neatly. A colorful scarf and pearl earrings completed the outfit. Miaka sniffed the air, and broke out into a wide smile as Chikuma walked over to where Keisuke was holding the freezer door open, and firmly closing it before crossing over to the stove and turning down the heat. "There's a reason you live in your own apartment. There's food there, I hope."

Keisuke groaned loudly as Miaka said, "You look beautiful, Mom. You're going to blow them away at the office. Especially with that new perfume! Where did you buy it at?" Chikuma chuckled as she pulled out a loaf of bread from the breadbox, and placing a slice into the toaster. Keisuke managed to snatch two slices out of the plastic wrap, earning him a playful reprimanding look from his mother.

"It was a gift," she replied as Keisuke pulled a half empty jar of peanut butter out of the cabinet. Miaka hid a smile at the short response, already knowing who had given the expensive bottle to her mother. For the past year or so, Chikuma had been seeing a nice businessman at the new company where she worked. Miaka and Keisuke had both taken an instant liking to Wakashi-san, who was cheerful and humourous. They constantly teased their mother that they were waiting for the day when he finally popped the question. Though Chikuma only said that she would only get married so her two children could have a father figure, both Miaka and Keisuke knew that she was as anxious as they were for Wakashi-san to propose.

Keisuke sat down at the table with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, his omelet, and the five pieces of bacon. Miaka gulped back a giggle, and innocently asked, "Onii-chan has been learning too much from me. But…a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast? I mean, come on." The blonde young man gave her a long look before taking a giant bite out of the sandwich, as if to defy her. Miaka rolled her eyes.

Chikuma joined them at the table with her own breakfast and picking up the newspaper lying in the center of the table. "Keisuke, are you going to pick Yui up?" Keisuke tried to sigh, but found himself unable to with his mouth full, and settled to just nodding. Miaka cheered quietly before stuffing the rest of the orange in her mouth. She leaped out of her chair, and jogged into the living room to grab her bag and her shoes.

Keisuke gave her a look. "We're not leaving yet. I'm not done eating."

"Onii-chaaaaaaan…!" Miaka returned to the doorway and glared at him, trying to maintain her balance as she slipped one of her shoes, her bag resting against the opposite leg. "It's not my fault that you didn't eat breakfast before you left home. You are supposed to have me at school in fifteen minutes. Fifteen! And with the morning traffic, we're bound to get trampled in it!" Keisuke groaned at the comment, but managed to stuff the rest of his bacon into his sandwich along with his omelet to create one big, rather colorful sandwich. Miaka wrinkled her nose as Keisuke took a bite out of it, shrugging into his jacket that he had slung over the chair.

Chikuma looked up from her newspaper, a small smile appearing on her face. "Miaka does have a point. I'll make sure that she makes something for you whenever you have to pick her up in the morning, so neither of you have to rush." Keisuke managed to grin through mouthfuls of his monstrous-size "breakfast" sandwich while Miaka gaped in shock.

"Mom, you're not actually serious?"

"I am," Chikuma replied, before waving an absent hand at her two children. "Now hurry up. You still have to pick Yui up, and I'm sure you don't want to be late."

"Of course not, Mom!" Keisuke responded, giving her a small peck on the cheek before grabbing Miaka's arm and dragging her towards the door, ignoring his sister's protesting remarks. "We'll see you later!" The slam of the front door, plus one last squawk by Miaka, signified their departure. Miaka dug her feet into the ground in the hallway outside of their apartment, trying to bring Keisuke to a halt.

"Keisuke, hold it for a second!" she exclaimed, trying to fix her school jacket. "You almost made me forget my bag! We're not going to be late."

Keisuke blew her a raspberry. "If we keep stalling we will. Now come on!" He hurried towards the elevator, oblivious to the scathing look the seventeen-year-old gave him. They hurried down the hallway and down the stairs at breakneck speed and into the parking garage of the apartment. Miaka snatched the keys out of her brother's hand and made a mad dash for the car, leaving a confused Keisuke standing at the entrance gate.

"Ohaiyo, Abukara-san!" Miaka exclaimed, dashing past the security guard who often worked nights at the apartment complex. The graying older gentleman waved a hand at her just as Keisuke rushed passed, waving as he did so, but not taking time to say hello, lest he waste breath in trying to catch up with his thieving little sister. Miaka had already reached the little cream-colored car and had tossed her backpack into the backseat. She climbed into the driver's side and started the ignition, ignoring the scathing look Keisuke gave her as he slid in shotgun.

"I don't recall saying you could drive this morning."

"You never let me drive!" Miaka retorted, pulling the car out of the parking space and heading towards the exit. She reached town and began twisting dials on the radio. "I think it's fair that I get to drive at least once a week."

"It's my car!"

"Yeah. I know. Thank Suzaku you're insured, right?"

A scowl.

Miaka just grinned, pulling out into dense early morning traffic. Though it was just past seven, many people didn't start work until much later. Miaka was glad that the earlier rush between five and seven had already gone, leaving the streets relatively clear. Well, as clear as streets could possibly get in one of the most crowded cities in the world. Miaka was glad for the car during the weekdays, even if she rarely got to sit in the driver's seat. It was much cheaper than taking the subway or taxi to the school, which was less than a mile away. And picking up Yui was no longer a hassle. It used to be that one of the girls would meet up at the other's house and they would take the subway there. Now, with a new car, it was easier, cheaper, and a whole lot more fun and comfortable.

Keisuke turned the down the volume of the radio a few notches. "I know you like this song, Miaka, but I don't think it's necessary to share it with all of Tokyo."

"But it's so great!" Miaka chirped, beginning to sing. "Ooooooh, if we could just take the tiiiiiime…"

"Argh! Please! Stop!"

Miaka blew him a raspberry, turning at the stoplight to roll into Yui's neighborhood. Yui's parents were rich, rich _and_ fortunate enough to live in their own home instead of an apartment. The area was also well-off, a beautiful neighborhood that made Miaka dream of when she and Taka would marry. She always imagined them living in a nice, big home with two children – a boy that had his magnificent gray eyes and a girl with her frothy auburn hair.

Keisuke noted that dreamy look that had passed over his sister's face as they coasted down the almost empty street. He had known that whenever they happened upon Yui's neighborhood, the same faraway look would mist over Miaka's eyes, and sometimes, he worried that she would be so distracted that they would end up in a ditch somewhere. But this time, the romantic look in her eyes was tinged with sadness, and a smile had appeared on rose-petal lips, a smile that achingly reminded him of when he had graduated from high school and he had gone back into one of his classes to retrieve a folder. The classroom had been so empty and quiet, nothing at all like it had been during the school year, and the sudden loss of his friends shocked him profusely.

Bittersweet.

The car pulled to a stop in front of a cream-and-blue house on the corner of one of the side streets. Ever since Yui's father had taken the new job at a prestigious corporate office, the family had suddenly seen a leap in income, and a few months after their return from the fight with Tenkou, the Hongo household had moved to a new neighborhood, a few blocks further away from what Miaka was used to, but still close nonetheless. Keisuke watched as Miaka stared at the house in the same dream-like state that had captivated her earlier, and sighed as the expression vanished.

_I wonder how much it hurts her to know that the book is so close, but she is unable to access it_, Keisuke mused quietly, glancing out the window up into the gold-trimmed green leaves of the majestic oaks lining the street, which created a crisscrossed canvas of splattered sunshine on the pavement below. _She doesn't talk about it as much as she used to…but I sometimes see her looking at that picture from the book…_He sighed. He admitted that whenever Miaka hadn't known, he had himself glanced over the faces of Miaka's beloved friends and protectors. When the whole adventure happened nearly two years ago, he had been a mere observer, the reader (though when Tetsuya told him that his role had indeed appeared in the book, he was stunned and, of course, pleased).

Whatever plagued Miaka's thoughts now, he hoped wasn't due to doubts or fears she had created to entangle herself in. Usually a cheerful, spirited girl, lately her energy had waned, and her eyes were constantly tinted with the darkness of thoughts from those years past. If it hadn't been for Taka's presence, he was sure that Miaka may have gone into a downward spiral of loneliness and regret. For that, he was eternally grateful to Taka and the rest of the Suzaku seishi for saving his little sister's happiness.

At that moment, Yui raced down the steps of her house and jogged to the car. Some strands of blonde hair, pulled mischievously from the messy bun, swiped a flushed face as Yui tossed her bag into the car and slid in, grinning at the brother and sister. "Sorry about that. Okaa-san was giving me another of her school lectures. And Choo-ka was being a spoiled little thing. On the other hand, how are you all this morning? I see Keisuke finally handed over the reins of the car."

"About time too!" Miaka replied cheerfully. "And what did you do to mess with poor Choo-ka this morning?" Choo-ka was Yui's pet toy terrier.

Yui made a face. "Lets just say it had to do with cereal, my dad's house slipper, and a piece of a soap. Don't ask because I don't know how it all got started either."

Keisuke glanced over his shoulder and wrinkled his nose. "Hongo-san was giving you _another_ lecture. What about?" Yui rolled her eyes towards the roof of the car, a bemused and exasperated smile appearing on her pretty features.

"Let's see…today was, 'Learning How to Behave Appropriately in Front of New Teachers from Foreign Countries Because Sometimes It Just Takes One Student to Make a Good Impression,'" Yui said in one long rush of breath. "She heard that Akira-sensei was no longer teaching our English class, and that our new teacher is going to be some college teacher-in-training from the United States."

Miaka's eyes widened. "I forgot all about that. But Akira-sensei is just going away for awhile for the surgery. He said it would only be a couple of weeks, two months at the most. And besides, Kiyoso-sensei is substituting until then."

Yui shrugged. "Whoever the new teacher is shouldn't be starting until sometime in October. So I have no idea why I received that speech so early." She made a face. "I guess it's something part of the parental unit system. Very odd, if you ask me." A small smile appeared on her face as she watched Keisuke lovingly shoo Miaka out of the driver's seat, ignoring the loud complaints of his younger sister. The brunette and blonde climbed out of the car, switching places, and Keisuke climbed into the driver's side as Miaka hopped into the back with her friend.

"Meanie," Miaka muttered. Keisuke just winked at her and pulled out into traffic, heading in the direction of the school, not heeding Yui and Miaka's protest as he switched the radio station. "Keisuke! This music is bad! Turn it back!"

"No way!" Keisuke exclaimed, beginning to bop his head to the music. "Nothing's better this! Oh, yeah!" He began singing loudly to the lyrics, in a voice that would make even tone-deaf people cringe. Miaka groaned, clapping her hands over her ears, and glared sharp daggers at her older brother. Yui hid her giggles behind her hand as they slowed at a stoplight and Keisuke began strumming an air guitar. Miaka rummaged through the back pocket of the seat and came up with a few pencil nubs, which she aimed at Keisuke's head.

"Wait a second!" Keisuke shouted, ducking from the blunt yellow projectiles. "You should be nice to me! I didn't have to drive you to school, you know!"

"That's no excuse for having bad taste in music!"

This time, the nub hit Keisuke right in the back of the head. "Hey! No assaulting the driver!" With that, he turned to the wheel to spin down a mostly empty side street and stomped down on the gas. Yui gaped and grabbed the door handle as the car flew down the street. Miaka shrieked in fear, covering her head with her backpack, screaming as Keisuke laughed wildly.

"ONII-CHAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Five minutes later, the small cream-colored car pulled up in front of entrance of the high school. Keisuke grinned as Miaka and Yui scrambled desperately out of the car, grabbing their books and slamming the doors behind them. Miaka glared at her older brother through the window, and brandished a fist at him. He simply winked at her before waving and pulling away from the school at much more sane speeds. Miaka glared as the car became smaller and smaller on the horizon before turning back to Yui, who, by the expression on her face, looked like she had seen into the depths of hell, and all around her were laughing clowns.

Miaka sighed, walking over to join her best friend. Yui gave her a questioning look. "Is he always like that in the morning?"

"Only when he has peanut butter." She grimaced and began heading towards the building. Yotsubadai was a large, modern-looking complex that was separated into three different buildings – the main building which was the largest of the three, the arts and science building, and the athletic hall. Miaka was sometimes a tiny bit smug whenever it came to their physical education facilities, especially their American football field, which boasted the latest of new equipment from overseas.

Yui waved over at where a group of two girls and two guys were sitting under a large sakura tree in the middle of the school's courtyard. "Ohaiyo gozaimasu! Stop making that face, Miaka," she added as Miaka scrunched up her nose at seeing the quartet. It wasn't as if she didn't like them or anything, seeing how they were some of her close friends in high school, but often, especially in the bleary-eyed mornings, their conversations were either nonexistent or overly cheerful.

The tallest of the girls, a freckled redhead with glasses, leapt to her feet at seeing the latest new additions. "You guys are approximately three minutes and five seconds late! We were supposed to go over our homework this morning before the first bell rang!"

The other girl snorted, big golden-hued eyes sparkling with mischief. "It's all common knowledge that most of us here are going to fail the test anyway, Sayoko-chan. Well, except for Mr. 'I Don't Need to Study, I Just Need to Cram' over there." At this, she shot a glare to where her boyfriend sat. The handsome youth sighed melodramatically before a grin appeared on his face as he peered over the edge of his Shakespeare manuscript of "King Lear".

"Well, I can't help it if I'm a genius with a photographic memory!" he replied. Miaka giggled as Joruri hit the young man on the head with her umbrella. He let out a yelp of surprise rather than pain, rubbing the sore area amidst his cap of solid gold-colored hair. Yui rolled her eyes at her friends' antics before sitting down next to Sayoko and pulling out her copy of the Shakespeare tragedy. The two were quickly into a deep discussion over the role of the fool in the play.

Miaka sighed and walked over to where the last of the group was sitting quietly, his eyes closed and head tilted forward slightly, as if he were sleeping. She tossed her book into his lap, settling down between him and Joruri's boyfriend, Motoki. "Morning, sleep-face. Didn't you get enough sleep last night?" The young man shifted, opening one luminous green eye and giving Miaka a long steady glance before yawning.

"Iye," he replied sluggishly, sitting up and glancing down at the book in front of him. "My sister and her boyfriend kept me up…again."

Miaka winced. "That loud, huh?"

"I don't even want to think about it," he replied. "I managed to get some studying done before they came home. At least this time neither of them were drunk. So I guess I'm fortunate I got any sleep at all."

"Hey, remember what I said earlier, Ichiyo-kun," she said, patting him on the shoulder. "If you ever need a place to stay, my brother still has an extra room." The dark-haired young man gave a small smile at her offer, but said nothing in relation to it. Miaka worried inwardly. She knew that Ichiyo wasn't as lucky as the rest of them, either financially or with his family. His parents had been killed in a car accident late last year along with his little sister, and now he was under the care his sister. The older girl tried to take care of her teenage brother, but, just out of the teenage years herself, was in no shape financially to do so.

Over by Yui, Sayoko wrote down a few notes in the margins of her book before biting the eraser of her pencil nervously. "I miss Akira-sensei so much! You don't think Kiyoso-sensei will postpone the test until tomorrow, do you? It's so unfair to give us a big test right after the weekend." Yui frowned.

"Well, I don't think we'll fail, if that's what you're worried about," she replied.

"I'm not worried about failing. It's just that this way of speaking is so unconventional, even for someone who speaks English! I asked my grandmother about it, and she well near had an apoplexy!" Sayoko's grandmother was a Canadian-born American who had moved to Japan soon after the second world war, and, despite her some sixty years in Japan, still spoke with the heaviest of accents. "But I get the gist of most of it, thank goodness."

Miaka piped in, "That's more than I can say! There's no way I'm going to pass this test!"

"I agree," Joruri concurred, pulling out a mirror to check her makeup. "The last things I read were the magazines at the salon. I don't understand how Shakespeare will help us find jobs in the future. What good can he be – he's dead!" Motoki grinned at her as he flipped a page, glancing through the last few scenes of the play. Sayoko scowled, ignoring Joruri's comment and turning back to her own book. Miaka sighed – Sayoko, despite her early comment on the difficulty of Shakespeare speech, was an avid lover of the long-dead poet, and anyone who spoke wrongly about him often received her displeasure.

She turned to Ichiyo. "And what about you? Think you're up to the challenge."

Ichiyo gave a quiet chuckle. "We'll see. Kiyoso-sensei can be tough in grading sometimes. It all depends on his mood."

"But he's always in a bad mood!" complained Joruri, snapping her compact shut and stuffing it into her backpack. "I've never seen a man act so harsh! And that's when compared with my uncle!"

Yui rolled her eyes. "Your uncle is not harsh, Ruri-chan. Now, come on. The bell's going to ring in two minutes, and if we're not in class early, we won't earn brownie points with sensei." She climbed to her feet and wiped at the back of her plaid skirt. "You too, Miaka. No complaining about the test, and no dozing off while taking it. You remember what happened last time." Miaka blushed.

"You're as mean as Keisuke!" Truth be told, the remark lacked its biting tones from yesteryear. The once friendly, yet hostile aspects of their relationship had toned down once the girls had returned from the book. Yui knew that she had her best friend hell on earth while in the book, taunting her and causing her tears of pain and frustration constantly. It was a debt Yui believed she could never repay, despite that Miaka had obviously thought nothing of the pain that Yui had given to her, blaming it instead on Nakago. And even then, in those rare times they actually discussed their adventure, Yui had seen bitter compassion and slight regret in Miaka's eyes whenever she spoke of the blonde-haired general. Yui never knew why her friend would react in such a way to the man who had literally torn to shreds a childhood friendship.

Yui glanced up towards the sky as their group of six headed towards the school entrance. Again, with those dark thoughts that returned her to that devastating moment in her lifetime. It had never hurt this much before, not even when they had returned from the book. She closed her eyes, pausing briefly as the late summer scented breeze drifted amongst the students. She had been frightened to confront her friend, to see frowning look in valley green-eyes.

But it went nothing as she had supposed.

xxxxx

_Two years earlier…_

Yui sat on the park bench, her hands fumbling nervously on her lap. It had been an entire day, not long enough in her opinion, since the book had closed. It felt so short – wasn't it just a few days ago she had been in the ShiJenTenChiSho? Had the war ended so suddenly between the rivaling nations? She wondered how much time had passed in the book since their coming back to their world. She shivered inwardly – it wasn't as if any of her seishi were alive to actually live through those days…

She looked across the park where a group of children was playing tag with a tiny moth-like butterfly that fluttered from one blade of emerald glass to another. Their laughter provoked a deep longing in her heart of the innocence they possessed, an innocence that she felt had been taken from her. (A few days ago? A few months ago? In reality, she and Miaka had just discovered the mystic book this week…) But the darkness which had curled around her heart like some sort of seductive serpent had left its mark, leaving her with nightmares, despite yesterday's decisive battle.

Footsteps alerted her presence and Yui glanced up as the silhouette of her beloved and hated friend fell upon her. But…she had changed. Yesterday, after the final battle with Nakago and Miaka's final wish, Miaka and Keisuke had returned Yui to her own house, leaving soon after with a message to Hongo-san to tell Yui to meet Miaka in the park the next afternoon. She hadn't had the chance to see the overwhelming sadness tinged in Miaka's eyes, casting them several hues darker than their normal jade glow. And her smile was bittersweet as she cast those eyes on her friend.

_No, it's too soon!_ Yui thought frantically in her mind. _What can I possibly say to her, now that it's over? What can I possibly do?_

"Yui…"

The blonde closed her eyes, ready for the rebuke. _Miaka_…

"…I've missed you!"

Yui wasn't all prepared as the brunette rushed into her arms, wrapping her arms around the younger girl's smaller form. She glanced down at the two buns gracing either side of her friend's head as she sobbed into her shoulder. "Miaka…?"

"I'm so glad you're back! I'm so glad!" the petite girl cried, pulling away so that Yui could see her tear-streaked face. In her eyes, in her smile, was unabashed happiness. "I thought we'd never get to be friends again, Yui! After everything that happened…I thought you'd still be angry with me." Yui's eyes flew open at the subtle self-deprecating remark until she remembered her words from yesterday, before she made her own last wish to Seiryu. She had confessed her jealousy and loneliness when Miaka had chosen Tamahome over her, as it had seemed. No wonder the older girl may have believed that a small rift still separated the childhood friends.

Yui shook her head, trying to chase away the demons still haunting the recesses. "No, Miaka, don't say that. I should have known…I should have known that _you_ would never betray me. I was so stupid and jealous." She choked back a sob. "Miaka, I'm so sorry. I'm always in your debt for this. Our friendship…I tossed it away because of what Nakago said…all those years, and I ignored them, brushed them away, so I could hurt you!" Tears spilled down her cheeks. "Miaka, how can I ever…I can't even say how much I'm sorry…it hurts my heart…it hurts until I feel like it'll explode…"

Miaka gave her a watery smile. "Remember yesterday, when I said I would yell at you later? Now that we're here, I can't yell. I just want to be here with you. I just want us to renew our friendship. I'm so happy, Yui. I'm so happy you're here, and you're safe. I finally have you back."

"But at what cost?" Yui whispered quietly. "You could have stayed with Tamahome, but you used your wish for me, to save me after all that I had done."

Miaka shook her head, clasping Yui's hands in her own, and suddenly looking very mature, sadness giving her an older look, like a woman who has lost all of her hope, yet still clings to a single painful shard. "Tamahome and I made that decision, to save this world. I couldn't save Konan, I couldn't save those who fought for their countries. I may have been priestess and accomplished my duties, yet there's so much I wish I could have done for those I left behind. For Houki, for Kouji, for Tokaki and Subaru, for all of them…" She lowered her head, a small worn smile appearing on her face. "I guess you were right, huh? I was lucky to meet so many wonderful people. But in the end…"

"In the end, you gave them hope," Yui replied softly. She turned her head to gaze up to the sky, crystal blue and untainted, a winter's sky, but not unforgiving. From close by, a winter sparrow chirped softly and quietly. She chose her next words carefully and slowly, so as not to initiate a wrong impression. "You know, Miaka, before now, before this moment, I wasn't sure it was real. Like it was a really bad nightmare I'd never awaken from. And it was a nightmare sometimes. But I couldn't shake it off, like a dream. I had to live through it. And it hurt. It hurt so much sometimes that I…" She trailed off, eyes falling onto the nearly faded scar on her wrist. Miaka followed the gaze and bit her bottom lip, recalling the incident that led to the violent rivalry between the girls. Yui shook her head, gently touching the darkened line of skin at her wrist. "I said as long as I had this scar, I'd never forgive you. But it's already fading. I'll always remember it, as I'll always remember this time…"

"Yui-chan…"

"It wasn't a dream, Miaka. It was _real_. Everyone was real. There were times when I took it for granted. Everyone, I thought, was there to serve me. But those people…they had thoughts, desires, dreams, and hopes. Even our seishi. And…" Yui trailed off, finally meeting Miaka's eyes. There was only sincerity and curiosity in that big, loving gaze, eyes that could capture anyone's soul and make it her own. _Miaka has always been like that…always so giving and loving and accepting…even when she is being selfish…Miaka, that's what they all saw in you, that's why they all loved you so…_Yui smiled shakily. "It was real. It was real…and for that, Miaka…I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

Miaka looked at her friend, whose head was humbly bowed in apologetic reverence. This was not just a priestess forgiving another priestess, or a former enemy acknowledging defeat, but a childhood friend admitting her wrongs, and begging the forgiveness of the person she spited. Unabashed tears of joy rose into Miaka's eyes as she pulled her friend into a warm hug.

"Always, Yui! I forgive you! You're my best friends and always will be!"

Yui suddenly did something she hadn't done in a very long time – she laughed. It felt so good just to laugh, here in their own world, with her best friend returned to her side after so long. It was a bittersweet laugh, wonderful in its jubilance, sweet in its delight. To be forgiven despite all of her error was a gift she never would have thought to experience, and its soul-cleansing effects lifted her spirit. She gave Miaka a broad smile. "There's something else I have to ask of you, Miaka…"

The brunette cocked her head to the side. "What is it?"

"Can you tell me about them? About your seishi?"

Miaka's eyes shone with tears of happiness.

"Of course! I'd love to!"

xxxxx

Yui lifted her head from her desk as someone called her name from the opposite side of the room. The test had been relatively easy, but incredibly long, and she was trying to work the cramps out of her hand and her brain for the brief respite between classes. She glanced around the room to see who had called her name, and finally laid eyes on Miaka and Joruri, who were waving their arms wildly from the windows. Yui gave a small inward laugh before rising from the desks and joining them.

"What's all the fuss?" she asked, peering over Miaka's shoulder and down into the courtyard below. It didn't take her long to see what her two friends were staring at. "Ah…the football team. You two are a mess. Especially considering the fact that you both have boyfriends…"

"Oh, Motoki doesn't mind," Joruri giggled, flippantly brushing dark hair away from her cheeks. "He knows that just because he's the finest male specimen ever to grace the planet doesn't mean there aren't others who might rank high up there with him." With that, she gestured to where Motoki was currently sleeping on his desk, school jacket pulled over his head so that only a few tendrils of golden hair could be seen. Miaka smothered her laughter.

Yui shook her head in wonder, knowing that her position was like such just a few seconds earlier (though certainly less…relaxed). She turned her attention back towards the football team as they kicked the small black-and-white ball between themselves. "Either one of you have a favourite?"

"Um…the captain? The captain's kinda cute…he's an upperclassman too, but I think he already has a girlfriend," Joruri said miserably.

"And you already have a boyfriend, so you should be happy."

"Yeah, yeah."

Miaka turned to her best friend after one of the football players ran himself into a tree and fell over. "Taka's a lot better. So, how do you think you did on the test? Those questions were hard – Kiyoso-sensei's in a bad mood!" Joruri snorted at the obvious statement, but kept her attention on the passing team. Yui gave a small smile, and slightly cocked her head to one side, giving her friend a dubious look.

"Well, it did ask some difficult questions, so…" she trailed off and then shrugged. "I'll have to ask Taka about it later. You know how much he likes his English literature classes." Miaka scrunched her nose.

"Yeah, but he doesn't like Shakespeare all that much…wait, you're going to see Taka?"

Yui frowned. "Didn't he tell you? We weren't able to get into the library on Saturday for some reason. I thought it was because of a broken water pipe, but we weren't sure. We were going to go back there today after he got off from work." Miaka gave Yui an odd look, blinking big green eyes in confusion.

"Well, that can't be right because he promised to help Bunzo-kun fix his motorcycle after work today," Miaka replied. She made a face. "Bunzo-kun is always getting his motorcycle into some mess. This time, he ran it into a pile of manure and ruined his exhaust pipe. Yui, where in the world would he find a manure pile in the middle of Tokyo?" Yui laughed, recalling Miaka's recalcitrant neighbor, newly out of college, and acting with the sophomoric knowledge of one who believes they know everything life has to offer. But inwardly, she winced. _If Taka can't make it to the library tonight…_the dark feeling that had been lying dormant within her for the past two days began to rear up.

Miaka noticed the sudden apprehension on Yui's face, and grinned cheerfully. "Don't worry, Yui! We can still go to the library!"

"Miaka wanting to go to the library?" Joruri asked, peeling her eyes away from the window. "I couldn't have heard this one right. I never thought I'd live to see the day." Miaka made a face at the beauty queen while Yui hid a relieved smile. Joruri rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the football team outside, groaning as four of the athletes tackled their friend who had run into the tree. "Once again, this proves that the male species was born without a few important brain cells."

"Hey, talking about guys again?" a cheerful voice called as Motoki joined them at the window. His forehead was red from where it had been pressed against the desk for around ten minutes. Joruri wrinkled her nose at him and swatted him with her left hand. Motoki snatched his girlfriend's hand right out of the air and placed it back down at her side, resting his chin in her hair as he followed the trio's gaze outside. "Ah, the football team this time."

"Why couldn't you have been part of the football team?" Joruri asked in annoyance, looking up through thick eyelashes to glare at her tall beau. "Then I would have had memorable eye candy during this class. No, you had to go and join the _hockey_ team. What respectable Japanese student goes and joins the hockey team? It's barbaric! It's something they only do in America!"

"Yeah, those crazy Americans," Motoki teased cheerfully. "All they do is play hockey, watch Elvis movies, and become the most powerful nation in the world. Someone should stop them!" Yui and Miaka laughed as Joruri turned an interesting shade of pink. The girls knew that Joruri had a minor distaste for Americans, and often got into conflicts with Sayoko, who was a quarter-American herself, over it. But Motoki, having been with Joruri for two years, knew how to dispel her bouts over Western civilization.

At that moment, Kiyoso-sensei came back into the classroom. He was a large man with salt-and-pepper hair and a peculiar mustache gracing his upper lip. He always reminded Miaka of some sort of aristocratic prince who had been dumped rather unceremoniously into the _kotogakko_ system. His manners were as strict as his favourite teaching tool – a very long, very misused meter stick.

"Alright, students!" he bellowed, returning to his desk. "Back to your seats! I have an announcement to make!"

"Must he shout everything?" Joruri complained quietly, sliding back into her seat. Yui gave her a look before turning her attention back to the _sensei_.

Kiyoso-sensei began shuffling papers at his desk, ignoring the students as they hurried back into their seats so as not to ignite their teachers' wrath. Once the sound of shuffling feet had ceased, Kiyoso-sensei looked back up in pleasure to see the students all sitting in their seats, and all of them giving him their utmost attention. He cleared his throat. "As you all know, I won't be teaching this class forever." He glared as one of the students cheered quietly. "I'll see you after class, Hagino-san. Anyway, I'm simply substituting for Akira-sensei until your new teacher arrives in a few weeks. This morning, your principal told me that they have indeed found your new teacher and are working out the last bit of paperwork for him to arrive here on the fifteenth of October."

Miaka looked over her shoulder and shot Yui a grin. Both girls were excited at the prospect of getting a foreign teacher to teach their English class.

"The fifteenth of October is almost five weeks away, and that means you have time to clean up any quirks in your behaviour before your new teacher arrives," Kiyoso-sensei was saying, looking down at the calendar on his desk. "It's not every day we get a teacher from another country to teach a class here at Yotsubadai." He turned to his students. "I expect you to be on your best behavior. We'll talk about it more in depth when he comes here. Any questions before we move on to discuss the nuances in the plot of _King Lear_?"

"Yeah!" a student called from the back. "What's this guy's name?"

Kiyoso-sensei leveled the student with a look. "No speaking out of turn in this classroom. We are unsure of who this new teacher is, but I guarantee he'll be equipped to handle-"

"I heard he's really young!" came a comment from a girl near the front of the classroom.

Another glare from Kiyoso-sensei. "Again, we're not sure-"

"Is it true he's from the United States?" Joruri, of course.

"Will you all please raise-"

"When will Akira-sensei be back?"

"That's it!" Kiyoso-sensei exclaimed, throwing his hands down on the desk. He turned a menacing glare to all of the students in the classroom. "Everyone, take out your copies of _King Lear_ this very moment! If you all can't raise your hands and wait to be called on, we'll have to do something that will determine your participation grade in this class! Now, go on! We're going to have a discussion discussing the irony involving Cordelia and Edgar!"

The class groaned loudly at the idea of having a group discussion, but in order to quell Kiyoso-sensei's sudden temper, they all quickly pulled out their copies of the Shakespearian tragedy, and soon fell into a forced discussion of the play.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, as most school days often did, especially the one that started off the rest of the week. By the time the day was over, Miaka felt ready to write a leader of complaint to the person who was in charge of Japanese educational system and complain about its redundancy. She was ready for a change in the school day, even if it meant simply changing one classroom. Suddenly, the fifteenth of October seemed like such a long time away.

"Yui, do you think this new teacher is going to be cool?" she asked as she walked beside her friend on the way to the library. She swung her bag wistfully from one side to the next, her eyes peering up at the gray skies overhead. She wrinkled her nose. _I hate the rainy season._ "I mean, when compared to either Kiyoso-sensei or Akira-sensei?" Yui laughed.

"Everyone's better when compared to Kiyoso-sensei!" she replied cheerfully. "I honestly thought he'd have a heart attack this morning when no one would raise their hands to ask a question!" She paused thoughtfully. "But I don't know. Perhaps. He's supposedly young, still in graduate school after all, and from America? I would say he has two things already in his favour."

"Why does everyone keep saying 'he'?" Miaka wrinkled her nose. "It could very well be a female teacher." Yui nodded.

"Of course! But I think all the girls are hoping for a young, attractive male teacher," Yui replied good-naturedly. "We haven't had one since Iwasa-san decided to go study abroad this past February." She shot Miaka a look. "I remember how heartbroken a certain Suzaku no miko was when she found he was no longer going to be teaching our calculus class." Miaka flushed.

"Well, I can't help it if he was almost as cute as Taka!"

Yui giggled at her friend's remark before turning the corner, and pausing in her step. The National Library still stood majestically away from the street, a welcoming site to students, teachers, and lost tourists looking for any recognizable landsite. _So, I'm back again…but am I ready?_ A glance at Miaka's optimistically grinning face told her how her friend felt, but Yui felt all the glee that had been with her just a few seconds earlier vanish like the heat from a match in the Arctic. She tried not to shiver as ice seemed to coat itself along her bones.

"What are we waiting for?" Miaka asked brightly, turning back to Yui. "Lets go get that book and then go home! I'll have to call Taka and tell him we got it already." Yui hesitated as Miaka began to approach the front doors, but then tried to shrug the screaming feeling of distress away and headed after her. Each step that brought her closer and closer to the book rang clear in her mind. The dark clouds the scampered through her heart shortened her breath and she could almost hear the nightmares crawling into her mind and suffocating it with terror.

"It's actually opened today!" Miaka exclaimed as she entered into the library, followed by Yui. A rush of cool air hit them as they stepped into the lobby area. As always, whenever she entered into any building as pleasant and quiet as the library, Miaka felt insignificantly tiny. She lightened her steps so as not to disturb any of the people further into the recesses of the library, her eyes darting over to the vending machines in the corner. From there, she would see the stairway that led up to the Important Documents room.

Miaka started in that direction until she felt Yui tap her on the shoulder. She turned to face her blonde friend, frowning. "What?"

"I'm going to see why they were closed on Saturday," Yui whispered, nodding towards the front desk. "I'll join you in a minute." Miaka nodded and turned towards the alcove where the stairway was. To any curious observers, it looked as if she was headed to make a purchase from one of the vending machines. Yui turned her attention towards the front desk, and strode towards it. The lady at the counter, an elderly woman who fit the librarian type to a dime, looked up at her approach and put on a friendly, polite smile.

"Yes? May I help you?"

"Oh…I was wondering about Saturday," Yui replied. "The library was closed, and I didn't get to find out why." The librarian's face suddenly turned very serious, but not overly so as when someone is about to tell another person great and terrible news that would shock them.

"Well, one of our janitors had a heart attack the previous night, and passed out in a dead faint right near our Important Documents room. If it wasn't for the fact that one of our other librarians hadn't left his wallet here and returned, it's a sure fact that he wouldn't have survived." Yui's eyes had widened when she heard of the janitor's heart attack, but the sudden rushing feeling of despair had overtaken her when the librarian mentioned _where_ the janitor had fallen.

_It's just a coincidence_, Yui argued quietly in her mind, trying to calm her unsettled nerves. The librarian, seeing the girl's suddenly stricken look, quickly jumped in to sooth any upset feelings.

"Why, don't worry!" she exclaimed. "Nishimura-san is a strong man! He's just in the hospital recovering at this very moment. I expect him to be back on his feet in no time!" When Yui's expression didn't change, the librarian pulled out a sheet of paper and began to neatly write something down. "If you'd like, I can give you the hospital he's in. I'm sure he'd enjoy a visitor or two that isn't part of his ever growing family." She chuckled. "Sometimes, I can't believe they're still adding to the family. Four children and thirteen – or was it fourteen? – grandchildren! He's a very happy grandfather."

Yui distractedly took the note from the woman and placed it into her schoolbag. "Thank you, ma'am. I'll be sure to do that." She turned on her heel and quickly fled towards the alcove Miaka had disappeared to. _Oh, please, Miaka, don't have reached that book already_! She flew past the vending machines and turned to where the stairs led to the room above. She could see, even from her vantage point, that the door was already slightly ajar. She hurried up the stairs, ignoring the throbbing in her temples, and ran into the room, dark, as always, due to the inadequate lighting.

"Miaka!" she called, eyes darting from one row of shelves to the next. _Please, answer me…_

"Yui-chan! I found it!" an excited voice called from the farthest row of shelves to her right. Yui walked down towards the aisle, and found Miaka sitting on the lowest step a small rolling ladder, her schoolbag lying discarded next to her, and an old, faded book lying open on her lap. The brunette glanced up to see her friend standing over her, and gave the younger girl a bright, iridescent grin. "It's all still here! Every last bit of it!" She gestured for Yui to join her, to glance over the book, but Yui remained planted where she was. Miaka cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Yui-chan?"

"Miaka…the reason the library…the reason the library was closed on Saturday…" Yui found that the fear inside her and the darkness trembling in her heart and mind were nearly bursting in the presence of the ShiJinTenChiSho. "A janitor…had a heart attack while cleaning near this room…" Miaka gasped at the news, her mouth a perfect circle of worry. "No, he's alright. But…don't you find it odd…that it happened while near this room…?"

Miaka shook her head. "Should I? Yui-chan, the book is over. It's been over for nearly two years. It has no more power over people than it usually would. Besides, why would it want a janitor?"

"Why would it have wanted two schoolgirls?"

"It's nothing, Yui!" Miaka exclaimed cheerfully, slipping the book into her bag and jumping off the ladder. She pulled her friend into a close hug and then pulled away, holding her friend by the shoulders. "Of course, anyone would feel a bit weird when coming here after what we went through, and the janitor thing adds to the creepiness. But I'm sure it's nothing!" She peered at her friend, green eyes sparkling in humour and ease. "We have the book, Yui. Nothing can go wrong now!"

"What are you two doing in here!?"

xxxxx

The silence of the room wouldn't have perturbed anyone who was used to it. However, if anyone could have survived such a long stay in such a room, it was a feat that only gods could accomplish without losing their sanity. It was no ordinary room. For a room is believed to have four walls, a ceiling, and a floor. If so, this _thing_ would have not resembled a room even in the least sense.

Gone was the proposed ceiling, along with three of the walls that would have supported such a ceiling if it had been in existence. Only one wall stood, a tremendous fifty feet in height, and extending onwards towards infinity on either side. The floor was still in tact – a black marble that even the shadows seem to revere, covered in greenish-gray vines and brown leaves, dead, just like the rest of the room. Their existence proved hardly gratifying to the oily shadows grimly moving across the floor, as even if they too were ground down from the ominous pressure of wickedness pressing down from above.

Closer still, chains clicked together, weakly, as if whatever was bound to these chains had already used its energy and spent. Then, silence again.

Footsteps contributed to the newest sound of the room, leaves crunching underfoot and vines snapping from the weight. A figure emerged from the shadows, a shadow even within itself, moving gracefully amongst the dead vegetation, away from the sounds of the chains. There were no chains around his form, only a hooded leather cloak. His features were hidden in the shadowed recesses of the hood as he marched on, fixated on the wall that was unlike any wall ever created.

He ignored the clinking chains, and seemed completely unaware of his surroundings, except for the wall. The wall was his curse, his bane, the very meaning of his existence. Banish it, banish the reasoning for his being confined. Behind him, eyes as red as the blood of a demon glowed, and the low, hot breathing of a wild beast could be heard just inches away from his cloak. The beast was waiting to feed, waiting to attack once the wall disappeared. And there were so many more. Saliva dripped onto the leaves…no, not saliva…blood.

"So it begins," he whispered, his voice as dead as his surroundings. A flicker of power, a brief change in the shadows, and the wall trembled from an unseen force. The beast behind him shivered in rapture, eyes darting wildly from one point on the wall to the next, a muted growl issuing from its throat. Again, the wall shuddered from the force of the unknown power. The man turned his head to look towards one side of infinity and then the next. The chains began to rattle unmercifully in the shadows behind him.

"What you begin, you must also end," he murmured quietly, and it seemed as if whatever was leashed to the chains stopped to heed his comment. "And those in the middle, caught in those worlds, will perish." The chains clinked together in protest, and for the first time, the call of an animal surged up from behind him. Not of his beast, no…a different animal. A low moan, and then the fierce warning growl of a tiger, followed by the hissing of a serpent, and then…

…the lone cry of a bird.

"He's already mine," the man whispered, holding up his hand, and snapping his fingers once.

The tiny movement fluctuated the balance of the shadows in the room, and the wall nearly tore itself to pieces trying to battle the onrush of power that surged up against it. But the wall, despite its huge powerful build, was no match to the onslaught of energy pounding against its barrier. In a matter of seconds, the wall…disappeared. It did not crumble. It did not disintegrate. It simply _vanished_.

The man stared blankly at where the wall had once been, the wall that had been destroyed with barely any energy at all on his part. All around him, the shadows were in a state of chaos, eagerly rushing forward, escaping their prison of what seemed to be an eternity. The beast which had been waiting desperately behind him could no longer contain its energy, and burst from behind, passing him in a flurry of sharp, deadly fangs, twisted black fur, and muscle strong enough to take down many a mighty man.

He smiled.

xxxxx

Miaka and Yui spun around at the voice, both of them jumping back a few feet at being caught unexpectedly. A slim figure stood at the head of the aisle, a set of keys dangling from his or her belt, their head cocked to the side in amusement. "Sorry, girls. No admittance allowed other than library personnel." Miaka gave Yui a look that clearly stated she was relieved it wasn't Nakago reincarnated, but the mysterious figure was still scary nonetheless.

Yui took a step forward. "Sorry, sir. It's just that there are usually some interesting books in here, and my friend and I wanted to check them out before we left the library…"

"Uh-huh…I've heard that one before," the person joked, rolling his eyes. "And don't call me 'sir.' I'm not that old. Come on, let's get you two out of the very important room." He gestured for them to follow him as he turned towards the door. Yui gave Miaka a relieved look that he hadn't caught her putting the ShiJinTenChiSho in her bag, and hurriedly followed the man out the door, Miaka close at her heels. They exited the room as the man turned and locked the door behind him. "I wonder why no one ever locks this room…"

At that, he turned back to them, and gave them a grin. It was then that Miaka realized that the man (_Man! Ha,_ she scoffed) was hardly any older than themselves. In fact, he looked a year or two younger. His eyes were a bright, robust green, a few hues lighter than Miaka's, and were currently fixated on the girls with an amused look in them. His hair was spiky in the front, and pulled into a low, short ponytail in the back. He looked absolutely adorable, just a few years out of childhood adolescence, and showing the grace and skill of the man he would be someday.

"A bit young for a librarian, is that what you're thinking?" he suddenly asked, laughing at the shocked look on Miaka and Yui's faces. At their dumbfounded nods, he grinned brightly. "It's a job. I work here after school to help middle school students study for high school entrance exams. Usually, I only work here on the weekends, but unfortunately, I have a football game this Saturday, so I'm working here tonight and tomorrow afternoon."

"You tutor students?" Yui asked, genuinely interested. The young man nodded as they began to descend the steps.

"Sometimes fellow classmates, sometimes underclassmen," he said cheerfully. "I enjoy it, though sometimes it can be difficult." He glanced behind him and raised an eyebrow at the two girls. "Though I don't know if I'd go and try to lock myself in an important room just for fun. What were you guys really doing in here? No, wait! I don't want to know. Probably some sort of secret girl thing."

Miaka grinned brightly. She was beginning to like this young man, despite the fact that they had just met on rather shaky terms. But he had simply brushed it off as being their own business. "What high school do you go to?" The young man grinned a bit, and rubbed behind his head as if he were nervous suddenly.

"Um…Jonan."

The sudden conversation came to a halt. The two girls had literally stopped dead in their tracks, eyes bugged out at the young man who stood in front of them, turning an interesting shade of red. Yui managed to choke out, "Jonan?"

"Yeah?"

"That's the high school we tried to get into," Miaka sputtered out, glancing at the boy with a raised eyebrow. "You're smart. You must be a genius."

"Or just lucky," the young man said hesitantly. "It wasn't just grades that got me in, thank goodness. If all I had was academics, I'd be in trouble. I'm a pretty decent football player too, not to brag." Miaka and Yui shared looks – a boy who was both good in academics and sports? Sign them up for the next two! The young man was positively the perfect student – volunteer work to help other students, active in the sports life, and smart enough to get into Jonan (plus, he was rather cute with all that brown hair and big green eyes).

The trio entered into the lobby, and the young man hunched up in his shoulders in a brief shrug. "So, I saved your necks from getting caught by the library security guards. Don't go up there again, because I can't promise I'll be here to save you guys again. I'm no knight in armour." He winked. "'Then, a soldier, full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel.'" Yui raised an eyebrow, amused by the choice of words. _Well, two can play that game…_

"Well," Yui replied teasingly, "'He that hath a beard is more than youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me; and he that is less than a man I am not for him!'" The young man laughed at the quick repartee, but Miaka just blinked in confusion, and decided that it was something only extremely versed people would understand. She scratched behind her head.

"I don't get it, and I'm not going to try to," she replied. She tugged the sleeve of Yui's school uniform slightly. "I'm really sorry, but I have to get home to call Taka and tell him I went the library on ahead of him." Yui's eyes widened at the statement and she turned an apologetic smile to the young man, who was staring at the two in amusement and curiosity. Miaka gave her a look and gave the other student a wincing grin. The young man gave a brief shrug, and waved at them before heading back to the front desk as the two girls turned to leave. But suddenly, Miaka stopped in midstep, twirled around, and raced after the jade-eyed young man. "Wait!"

He turned around. "Huh?"

"All this talking, and we didn't even get your name!" Miaka huffed furiously. The young man smiled.

"It's Arai Ryosei." He turned to Yui. "Sasaki-san said that she gave you the address of the hospital Nishimura-san is at. Are you going to visit him?" At Yui's nod and Miaka's subsequent exclamation that she would go to, Ryosei gave the two a hesitant, suddenly shy smile. "You don't mind if I tag along if you go later, do you?"

Yui glanced at Miaka, who shrugged thoughtfully. "Well, I can't go tonight because of Bunzo-san, but what about tomorrow afternoon at five? Does that sound alright?" Ryosei paused for a second, obviously quickly going over his schedule in his head, before nodding. Miaka whopped in delight, ignoring the look one of the librarians gave her, and ripped a piece of paper from a notebook to right down her and Yui's telephone numbers. "We'll stop by after school tomorrow and then we can take the subway to the hospital. Sound okay?"

"Nifty." Ryosei took the piece of paper from her, gave it a brief glance, and jammed it into his pocket. "And as fun as it's been, I have to get back to work now. Sasaki-san has been watching me like a hawk." He shivered in fear, but the look on his face belied his apprehension. The two girls waved good-bye to their new companion and exited the library. As soon as they were around the corner, Miaka gave Yui a suspicious look.

"You were friendly with him."

Yui laughed. "Come on, Miaka. He's smart! He's one of the first people I've met from the start that decided to tease with a Shakespearian quote."

"That was Shakespeare you two were jabbering about?"

"Miaka…"

"Kidding! Just kidding!" She giggled. "I liked him too. He seems nice. But not nicer than Taka." With that, she pulled out the ShiJinTenChiSho from her schoolbag and glanced at it in a mixture of trepidation and reverence. "Well, we have the book. Now what?" Yui shrugged, preparing herself to deal with the turmoil of sinister feelings that crept within her every time she laid eyes on the book. But to her surprise, she felt nothing of the sort, except the warm afterglow of the joke she and Ryosei had shared. She glanced at Miaka, who was waiting for a verbal response.

"Well, I guess we keep it out of sight until we find out exactly _what_ to do with it," she replied. Miaka grinned at her friend, and wrapped her in a hug. "What's this for?"

"For being friends. And for not talking in Shakespeare around me."

"Miaka…"

xxxxx

Back at the library, Ryosei returned to the desk and gave Sasaki-san a bashful smile. "Sorry about that. They had a little trouble with the vending machine." Sasaki-san raised an eyebrow at the young man, which caused a blush to spread across his cheeks.

"Hm-hmm. Arai-san, you can be a terrible flirt when you want to be," the older librarian chuckled before pushing towards him six books over the counter. "I saw you get those two girls' phone numbers. Now, these need to go back up into the historical reference section. I trust that you can make it there without flustering any more of the patrons?" Ryosei rolled his eyes and laughed, pulling out the sheet of paper from his pants and glancing over it.

"You know Keiko-chan would kill me if I flirted with anybody," he said. "And my parents wouldn't allow it either." A wistful grin came across his face as he placed the piece of paper back into his pocket, and lifted the six books into his arms. He gave Sasaki-san a departing smile and headed towards the main portion of the library, leaving Sasaki-san to shake her head in amusement at the boy's antics and turn back to her work. Though quiet and shy when he wanted to be, Sasaki-san knew that Ryosei loved to be around people, though not always wanting to be the center of attention. She found it remarkably adorable of the sixteen-year-old and had been immediately won over when he offered himself as a tutor for other students.

Smiling brightly, Sasaki-san turned back to the library computer.

xxxxx

"_Tadaima_!"

Miaka entered into the apartment, flung off her shoes, and peered into the living room. As far as she could see, there was no one else home. She journeyed into the kitchen, dumped her schoolbag into one of the seats, and began scrounging through the cupboards, unconsciously replaying the breakfast scene earlier in the day. She hummed quietly to herself as she pulled out a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut bar, and another jar of strawberry preserves.

She was just beginning to make her third sandwich when she heard the front door open and close. The brunette grinned, put down the sandwich and poked her head into the living room. Standing at the door was her mother, and a tall, handsome man wearing a gray business suit. She grinned happily and waved at the two. "Okaa-san! Are we having company for dinner?" Miaka's mother looked up to see her daughter waving from the kitchen and laughed.

"Yes, we just so happen to," she replied as the man, Wakashi Hiro, strode towards the kitchen, removing his jacket and giving Miaka a brief noogie on the head.

"How was school today, Mi-chan?" he asked playfully. She pretended to glare at him before laughing and turning back to making her sandwich. "Hopefully, they didn't decide to blow it up just to make you happy." Miaka sighed sadly and melodramatically.

"No, they didn't," she exclaimed. "We were tested on _King Lear_ instead." She proceeded to complain to him about the test and Kiyoso-sensei and pretty much everything about school she hated – which was pretty much…everything. Hiro became the sympathetic listener, only interrupting her to tease her or ask questions about some of her classes. Chikuma watched from the doorway, a small smile on her face. Never had she believed that the relationship between her children and the new man in her life would be so companionable. It was more than she had hoped.

Miaka finished off her current story with a flourish of her hand. "And then, the ball hit him square in the head, and he fell backwards, half-dead. No, seriously! He had a huge bruise right on his forehead, all because he was trying to show off!" Hiro laughed at the story, shaking his head as Miaka turned back to complete a fifth sandwich. Chikuma also chuckled briefly before entering into the kitchen and glancing into the refrigerator to see what to make for dinner. Miaka turned to her and brightly inquired, "Why not just order out? Pizza for everyone!"

"Miaka, I'm not sure…pizza?"

"Oh, come on, Chikuma-chan. It's pizza, after all," Hiro joined in Miaka's request, pouting out his lower lip. Miaka grinned and did the same thing as her mother turned an embarrassed, yet pleased red at being referred to as if she were still a schoolgirl. It didn't take long for her to relent, and Miaka made a beeline to the telephone, the number already emblazoned to her memory. She glanced back towards the couple as Chikuma took a swat at Hiro for persuading her to order pizza.

_I'm so happy for you, okaa-san,_ she thought blissfully as the phone rang on the other line. _You've finally found your love, just like I've found mine…_

Her eyes suddenly went very huge as she remembered the phone call that she had forgotten to make to the aforementioned love. She shrieked in dismay, causing the other two occupants in the kitchen to look up as she ran off to her room to call him in private, leaving Chikuma and Hiro to stare at the suddenly Miaka-less position by the phone. The two shared looks before Hiro chuckled.

"She's your daughter."

xxxxx

Author's Note: (6-20-04) I can't believe I had to go and add another part to this – the last scene – because I needed to introduce another character. (bangs head against nearby wall)

If anybody ever reads these things, you'll notice that my dates are usually off of when I post these and when I actually finish them. That's because I offer myself a one-chapter hiatus. That means that even though I just finished chapter two, I'll be posting chapter one. I would post chapter two when I finished chapter three and so on. I might stop doing this if I can get one of my friends to proofread my work. (I just can't do it – I skip over stuff too easily…)

Anyway, the plot unravels still. A bit longer than the previous chapter, but I think I'm doing alright. I'm not pulling out any 10k or more chapters – yet. But I'm so happy the ball started to roll. (Speaking of balls, I keep mentioning football in here – that's soccer, for all you American readers). An observant reader will notice that I dive into Yui's thoughts more often than Miaka's. Well, Miaka is going to play a big role in this story later on, so I'm getting Yui when she still has a powerful presence in here.

Alright, the little Shakespeare banter. (Yes, I did have to read _King Lear_ too…). Ryosei and Yui quote from _As You Like It_ and _Much Ado About Nothing_ respectively. Why? Because I felt like it. (Besides, Yui's quote was funny, and is now becoming my own personal quote if anyone ever asks me why I don't want a boyfriend!)

I wrote most of this chapter in the length of one day after being bummed out over my sinus infection and my writer's block when it comes to _Cinderella_. I plan on starting Chapter Three right after this chapter, and then continuing on _Cinderella_ later this week. Until then, Nashie is going to get some soup and go to bed. Poor Nashie-chan!

Let's see, I think that's it for disclaimers. Um, gracias for reading my story and see you in chapter three!

- Nashie-chan


	4. The Stages of Mankind

Disclaimer: Fushigi Yugi is the rightful property of Yuu Watase. _Aeternum Vale_ makes the author no profit (weep), and is written for the sheer amusement of the author and the readers. However, the plot of _Aeternum Vale_ and all new characters belong to me, and I will beat you with my Big Stuffed Fish™ if you take any of it. Thank you! (hugs)

Musical selection: "Everybody's Fool" performed by Evanescence, from _Evanescence_

xxxxx

**- CHAPTER 03: THE STAGES OF MANKIND -**

xxxxx

The doorbell rang.

Loudly.

A certain blonde young man, who was beginning to wonder why he even told people where he lived, crawled from under his sheets and blearily glanced at the clock on the side of his bed. A little past eight-thirty. Early for him – early for anyone – but still late enough to be asleep in a nice, warm bed. Maybe it was just a dream. It had better be, damn it. He didn't feel like getting out of bed and going to the door just to answer it. And if it wasn't a dream, maybe they'd take a hint and go away.

RING-RING-RING!!!! RIIIING-RIIIING-RIIIING!!!! RING-RING-RING!!!!

That woke him up. Only one person in the world ever used the Marconi-code for distress whenever ringing his doorbell. Still, that didn't make him feel any happier to drag himself out of bed and go answer the door. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt and slouched out of his room, into the living room, and towards the door. He undid the lock and swung the door open.

"Onii-chan!!!!"

A few minutes later, Keisuke found himself being host to Miaka and Taka, making three cups of coffee in the kitchen (with enough sugar and cream in his to keep him up for at least another three hours) and tossing a few oatmeal cookies for Miaka onto a plate. In the living room, he could hear them discussing the book that they had brought over. For what reason on earth they felt like discussing it at his apartment at eight-thirty at night was something his sleep-shaken mind couldn't quite grasp. He glanced into the living room again and saw that the scene hadn't changed since when he had first dragged himself into the kitchen.

The ShiJinTenChiSho lay on the coffee table in front of the couple, its pages open for all the world to see. That is, if all the world could fit into Keisuke's apartment. Taka leaned over the book, thumbing through the pages cautiously, as if wary of being sucked in within any moment. After a few more moments of paging through the book, Taka closed it with a sudden sigh, and turned his head towards the kitchen.

"Keisuke, how much more caffeine are you going to need?"

_Man, I don't need this – not at this hour…_he thought blearily. Still, he poked his head out of the kitchen and managed a decent glare at the teal-haired young man "Enough to keep me up a few more hours. Unlike some people, I don't have the pleasure of getting a good night's sleep tonight. Instead, two people drop by my apartment at unreasonable hours to look over a book." He disappeared into the kitchen again, reappearing this time with a tray of filled with coffee mugs and a plate of cookies. "Tell me again why we couldn't have gone over this tomorrow?"

Miaka, who had curled up next to Taka on the couch, sat up at the sight of the food and eagerly grabbed at a cookie. "Sorry, 'nii-chan, but I thought we should look over it right away." She reached over to the coffee table and picked up the book, her fingers lightly brushing across the cover, a small smile appearing on her face.

Keisuke flopped down on the big armchair at the head of the table, closing his eyes in exasperation. "Why? There's nothing wrong with the book. From what Taka could tell, the story is still in tact. Nothing's been changed – not the beginning, not the end. It's perfectly in one piece. What more could you ask for?"

"You sure talk a lot for someone who's tired," Taka teased, tossing a balled up napkin at the blonde's resting form. "Miaka never said anything was wrong with it, but would you trust a book that's been a hassle not once, but twice? And as far as we can tell, even though the book was over almost two years ago, Tenkou had no trouble continuing it early last year."

"What's weird," interrupted Miaka, flipping through the pages, "is that this book doesn't even mention Tenkou. Not even once. It stops right after Suzaku granted my final wish."

"That's not true, Miaka," Keisuke said, frowning. He gulped back nearly half of his coffee before standing and walking over behind the russet-haired girl, peering over her shoulder to glance at the book. "Tetsuya and I kept track of the first encounter with Tenkou through the book. It couldn't have ended where Suzaku granted your final wish." Miaka lifted the book and passed it over her shoulder so he could see for himself. Keisuke paged to the end of the story, and glanced down at the Chinese writing. "See, right here…'_The priestess bid her seishi farewell, assured that someday they would all meet again. And, with her beloved protector, she vanished from the world of her warriors and returned to her own world. So concludes the tale of the priestess of Suzaku and her adventures in the quest to summon her patron god…_'. That pretty much sums up what happened after you defeated Tenkou…" He trailed off, a frown appearing on his face.

"What is it?" Taka asked, helping himself to a cookie.

"There's more writing on the page…" Keisuke noted. Two heads swiveled his way, staring at him as if he had suddenly sprouted tentacles from his neck and was claiming to be the emperor of Sairo reincarnated. "It says: _"When all is said and done, the time for the priestess to be within this world fades. She departs, her three wishes granted, and attends back to her own world, to her own time. Yet–_""

"'Yet!?'" came a startled reply from both Miaka and Taka.

Keisuke continued, only slightly ruffled by the interruption. "_"–the strands of fate are strong and powerful, and once the lives of the priestess' seishi have been touched, nothing can undo fate's hand in the matter. For all eternity, the Seven will be connected to their priestess, devoted always, guardians forever. That is the way all journeys must end, back at the beginning._" The blonde stopped and went back to sit in his armchair. "Well, that doesn't tell you much. The Suzaku seven are connected to you. That's a reasonable guess. But why mention it?"

"Another Tenkou is rising up and we have to go back to the book and stop him?" Miaka murmured humourlessly. Her green eyes were downcast. "It doesn't sound too threatening, but you can't always be sure. What else does it say?" Keisuke turned to the book and glanced down at the pages. It was only one page really. No extra pages had mysteriously been added, and the book itself ended rather bluntly at the previous passage. He shrugged.

"That's it. Though it does make one wonder if there was more after it, the way it cut off so abruptly," Keisuke murmured. "'Back at the beginning…' Maybe it's a ploy to make the reader start reading the story again, to pass it along."

"But all the priestesses have been summoned," argued Taka. "What good would passing it along now do?" He paused and suddenly grinned. "Or maybe someone just put it there to drive whoever was reading it insane. 'Back at the beginning' would mean to start the entire story over again. But the wording has it so it would be the priestess of Suzaku the passage is talking about." He flipped to the beginning of the book and showed to Miaka and Taka. "Yet nothing's changed at the beginning. It could just be a reminder to remember everything you just read. Some books do end like that."

Miaka wrinkled her nose, nibbling at another cookie. "That makes sense. A lot more sense than what Keisuke was rambling about." She grinned at her brother as he gave her a furious look, handing him two cookies to calm him down. "Onii-chan, if you keep looking like that, your face will look as bad as Taiitsukun's!" Taka winced.

"Don't say that! She just might show up in the middle of nowhere and hurt us!" he mumbled, looking over his shoulder just in case. When he realized that the oracle was nowhere to be seen (and thankfully glad of it), he turned back to Miaka. "Find anything else interesting at the library?" Miaka nodded, wiping some of the crumbs off her skirt. Keisuke gave her an irritated look, knowing that he would have to be the one to pull out the vacuum cleaner as soon as they left.

"Yui wants to visit one of the janitors," she mentioned between a mouthful of cookie. "He had a heart attack Friday night – which was why the library was closed, by the way – and she wanted to visit him in the hospital. Oh! And we met this awesome person who goes to Jonan! His name is Arai Ryosei, and he works at the library to tutor junior high students studying for their entrance exams. He's really nice, and he's going with us tomorrow to visit the janitor."

Keisuke chucked. "You sound busy. But that doesn't sound like Yui, randomly visiting strangers in the hospital. Did she know him or something?" Miaka frowned, scratching her ear as she struggled to remember why Yui had said she wanted to visit.

"She was really upset, I remember that," said the young woman slowly. "I think it was because he was cleaning near the room the book was in. But I don't think anything happened like that. I don't mind visiting him in the hospital though. Yui told me he had around fourteen grandchildren! Fourteen! That's a lot of little kids…"

RING-RING-RING!

Keisuke nearly jumped out of his seat as the phone next to him began to vibrate unmercifully on the side table. Taka grinned at him and tossed him the phone, causing the older youth to glare at him again. _I need to work on my glowers…they don't seem to faze him anymore…_ "_Moshi moshi_?"

"Keisuke! Is Miaka there?" Keisuke rolled his eyes and glanced over the phone at Miaka, who had rested back in Taka's arm, paging through the book carelessly, a smile coming to her face every so often as she read through what could have been a biography for her. The same reminiscing look in her eyes appeared in Taka's as he sorted through Tamahome's memories of the adventures within the book.

"Yeah, Mom. She's here," replied Keisuke, causing Miaka to look up from her stroll down Memory Lane. "Yeah, I'll tell her…I think she knows, Mom…alright. Okay, then…well, I'd have to pick her up in the morning anyway…yeah…I understand, Mom…okay…okay…hm-hmm, I love you too…I'll tell her, Mom…okay…okay…bye." He hung up the phone, looking exasperated. Miaka looked curious albeit worried over what the conversation had been about, though Taka looked positively smug at having to hear Keisuke pronounce that he loved his mother over the phone. Keisuke decided to beat him up over it later. "Mom was wondering when you'd get back since tomorrow's a school day. I told her you might as well stay here since I'd have to pick you up in the morning anyway."

"Woo-hoo! Sleepover!"

"But as for you," Keisuke said, turning to Taka, "you're going to have to go. If Mom found out that you were here too, we'd both be dead." Taka nodded, and rose to leave. Miaka also got to her feet, wrapping Taka in a good-bye hug and giving him a sweet farewell kiss. Keisuke pretended not to gag as the two exchanged lovey-dovey partings. Miaka then scampered off down the hallway to Keisuke's bedroom to find something appropriate to wear to bed.

Keisuke began to walk Taka to the door. "You really don't think it means anything, do you?" Taka raised an eyebrow as Keisuke gestured to book left on the coffee-table. A dark look passed through expressive gray eyes, and he shook his head, a grim smile on his face.

"If it does, I suppose we'll find out eventually, right?" he asked, opening the door. "I just don't want to worry Miaka." Keisuke grinned at his future brother-in-law and gave him a friendly punch to the shoulder, which Taka received in humour. The two gave a quick parting before Taka strode down the hallway towards the elevator. Keisuke closed the door and locked it, turning back to the book on the table. Down the hall, he could hear water running in the bathroom, and smiled to himself. Taka was right. If anything was wrong, they'd find it out eventually. He didn't want to worry Miaka either, not his baby sister who he almost lost to the book twice.

He picked up the book, tossed it lightly in his hands, and placed it the bookshelf next to the television. Sighing, and hoping there would be no more visitors that night, he turned to venture down to his bedroom to rescues some sheets, knowing that Miaka would have laid claim to his bed and he would be unfortunate enough to sleep on the couch.

_Sisters…can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em._

xxxxx

Somewhere else, someone twisted in their sleep, nightmares ravaging their mind.

A nightmare that would be forgotten by morning.

xxxxx

As promised, the next afternoon, Miaka and Yui stopped by the library to wait for Ryosei to join them for their trip to the hospital. They arrived a half hour before hand so they could finish some homework while waiting for him to finish up tutoring a small, wide-eyed ninth-grader who seemed to be struggling over some of the more advanced steps of geometry.

Only one table away, Miaka watched in respective awe as Ryosei explained to the girl the easiest methods to retrieve the answer, and noticed the surprised delight on the girl's face as she finally got the right answer, flinging her arms around Ryosei in a crushing hug. The jade-eyed young man turned a distinct shade of red from the hug, but managed to untangle himself so they could work on the next problem. Miaka sighed dreamily, turning back to her own work. Yui smiled at her.

"He seems so nice," she whispered from across the table, taking a few notes in her notebook from the textbook she was reading out of. "And so generous too."

"Well, when you're a genius, I guess being nice and generous is the least you can do for others not as gifted as you," Miaka noted dryly, but smiling nonetheless as the girl squealed from having received the right answer yet again. "I wonder if he has a girlfriend…?"

"The lucky girl," Yui responded. "Now, shhh! That librarian is giving us one of those warning glances." Miaka glanced behind her back, only to catch the aforementioned librarian staring them down, and turned red, turning back to her homework and quieting down.

A few minutes later, the girl Ryosei was working with began collecting her books into her bag, a signal that it was time for Yui and Miaka to begin to doing the same thing. They joined the first-year high school student as soon as the girl departed, and soon, the trio left together after saying their good-byes to Sakashi-san, who advised them to tell Nishimura-san that she said hello. After assuring her that they would, they left from the library and made their way to the hospital, only a few city blocks away. As soon as they far enough away from the presence of the library, Miaka turned to Ryosei with a broad grin on her face, a grin that told everyone that what she was about to ask was really none of her business.

"The girls seem to like you!" she chirped. A flush spread across Ryosei's cheeks while Yui gave her friend an exasperated look for having embarrassed the young man right in the middle of the street like that. Miaka blinked, and then looked properly abashed, rubbing the back of her head nervously. "Sorry, Ryosei-kun. I didn't mean it like that. I didn't mean to embarrass you…" Ryosei laughed.

"No offense taken," he replied good-naturedly. "But that doesn't mean I have to answer your question." With that, he smirked as it became Miaka's turn to blush, hiding her cheeks behind her hands. Yui laughed at the sudden turn of the tables. He was quick with words, despite his sometimes shy persona. Perhaps, she thought, it was a façade to fool anyone narrow-minded enough to assert that he was another pushover. She nodded in approval.

Deciding to spare her best friend any more discomfiture, Yui turned her attention to Ryosei in a more pleasant, conversational matter. "Do you know Nishimura-san?" Ryosei nodded.

"He's usually the first night janitor to show up for work, so I've talked with him a few times while I was there late," he replied. "He's really nice – funny, too. Though it seems weird that he would have a heart attack. He's extremely healthy for his age, almost as healthy as me." With that, he wrinkled his nose and twisted his lips up into an odd smirk. "Or, that is, any other young jock. With enough brains to fill an entire thimble." Yui raised an eyebrow. Now _that_ was unusual. A jock who picked up on the stereotype of other jocks – and actually mocked them. Ryosei caught Yui's look and laughed slightly. "You have to admit, it's true sometimes. I can give you proof even from Jonan's football team."

Miaka hesitated to jump into the conversation, but finally threw all care to the wind. "You guys are playing against Yotsubadai on Friday."

Ryosei grinned. "Yeah. You guys are a tough school to beat. Are you two going to be at the game? It's nice to see familiar faces from other schools in the audience. It takes the pressure off sometimes." Yui and Miaka shared looks. They had already promised Joruri and Motoki that they would go to the game, even if only for a little while to share in the school spirit. They nodded. "Great! It'll be fun, then."

"'Then'?" teased Yui as they rounded a corner. "You don't have fun at your own football games? Isn't that a little, I don't know, cryptic?" Ryosei shook his head, a small smile appearing on boyish features.

"That's not it," he replied. "I have a rival at Yotsubadai. I don't even know his name, but he's a great football player. Fast, too. I can hardly ever keep up with him, and every time he comes onto the field, I know my team rarely stands a chance." Miaka blinked.

"We have a star player at our school?" she gaped. Yui was puzzled as well. She had never heard of such an excellent player on their football team, especially not from Joruri, who would have positively buzzed with the news. Unless, of course, thought Yui with a smile, the young man was way out of Joruri's league, an incident that happened rarely, and when it did, she refused to even acknowledge their existence. She wanted to laugh at the triviality of her friend's behaviour sometime, but she knew it was for naught. Only Motoki seemed to find that attractive – either that, or he knew that she may perhaps have been a great person beneath her arrogant, sometimes stuck-up, exterior.

The conversation continued in other matters of sports and academics until they reached the hospital. It wasn't a very large hospital, like the ones Miaka sometimes saw on the daytime soap operas. In fact, it was rather quaint, almost bordering on cute. It was a squat white building, hardly five stories, with a glass first floor façade, peering into a delicate tan lobby. Outside, in the middle of a circular driveway, was a great sculpture of a doctor standing tall and proud amidst shrubbery and violets. It may have been regal looking in the spring and summer when surrounded by blooming flowers, but with the prime of fall looming in the horizon, it may well have been just another aesthetic monument.

The group entered into the lobby and headed towards the front desk. A cheerful, plump middle-aged woman sat behind the desk, working at the computer, which was decorated with cute little furry stickers and post-it notes. Ryosei cleared his throat. "Excuse me, ma'am." The woman turned towards him and gave the three a big, broad smile. Miaka immediately liked this woman for that smile, not one of the plastic ones that most plebeians gave youngsters, but a genuine 'how can I help you?' smile. "We're looking for Nishimura Masazumi. He was admitted here Friday night on account of a heart attack." The woman nodded and turned back to her computer to type in the information.

"Yes, Nishimura-san…is in Room 308-B." She pointed down the hallway. "Go down the hallway to the elevators and take them to the third floor. When you get out, take a left and continue down for around four doors, and you'll find his room. Oh, and don't mind if there are around ten people milling around his room. He's had visitors in and out since Friday." Ryosei grinned and thanked her, and the trio walked down the hallway to get to the elevators.

"He has five children, and fourteen grandchildren," Ryosei explained with a chuckle as they waited for the elevator to reach the first floor. "All of the grandchildren are under the age of eleven. Half of them are under five." Miaka nearly laughed at Yui's wince as the elevator chimed to announced its arrival. By the look on Ryosei's face, she could tell that he was only amused by the thought of being surrounded by grabbing little hands and wailing voices. She was a bit more used to taking care of rugrats due to her job as a daycare attendant, and didn't mind little children. In fact, she absolutely adored them. Yui would have pronounced her crazy on the spot for liking the tiresome job, but Miaka always felt it was a good tired.

The elevator doors opened slowly, and the group of three exited, following the woman's directions from the front desk to find Nishimura Masazumi's room. In fact, they actually heard where his room was before they actually saw it. They turned a corner and saw a cluster of four adults and five children standing outside the room in the spacious hallway. All five of the children looked to be under four and were currently tugging Mommy or Daddy's hand so they could visit the gift shop, whining loudly as they did so. One of the adults, an intimidating-looking man who was beginning to gray, turned to give them a suspicious look.

"Yes, may I help you?"

Ryosei was the first to step forward, as polite as ever. "Hello. My name is Arai Ryosei. Are you all Nishimura-san's relatives?" The other three adults turned. One of them was a slim, elderly lady who appeared older than the other adults, and Miaka assumed that this was perhaps Nishimura-san's wife. The man who had spoken before nodded.

"Yes. I'm his brother. Have you come to visit him?" At Ryosei's nod, the man gestured towards the room. "Well, he's currently being visited by other family members, so you'll have to wait unless you're in a hurry."

Yui peeked into the room and saw that at least eight other people – not including the three little heads bobbing around the bed – were already in the room, surrounding a man in his late fifties. The man looked overwhelmed at being surrounded by so many family members and also bored at the prospect of being stuck in bed for the past four days. Yui felt sorry for him. Of all the places to be stuck for an extended period of time, the hospital must have been very low on everyone's list, even a hospital as nice and quiet as this one.

Miaka also peered into the room beside her friend and suddenly let out a squawk of surprise. "Kaneko-san!" A young woman who appeared to be in her late to mid twenties spun around from where she was sitting in a chair and noticed Miaka standing in the doorway looking absolutely flabbergasted. "What are you doing here?" The young woman in question seemed a bit flustered by Miaka's sudden appearance, but soon a broad smile appeared on her face.

"Miaka-san, who knew I would run into you all the way out here?" she exclaimed, rising from her chair with difficulty. Yui immediately saw why – the woman was several months pregnant. She walked over to Miaka and gave her a bit of a hug. "You know my father?" Miaka shook her head and explained the situation to the woman, who smiled a greeting at Yui and Ryosei. "Well, that's it, then!"

"Where are Ami-chan, Emi-chan, and Fumi-chan?" Miaka asked, looking around the room for the two-year-old triplets. "Left them at home with their daddy today?" Kaneko laughed and nodded, gesturing for the three teenagers to come into the room. Miaka and Ryosei, already having known at least one person in the room, were not as suddenly self-conscious as Yui felt as curious eyes turned towards them. She felt like blushing profusely and excusing herself, but firmly decided to remain planted where she was. After all, she _had_ come to visit Nishimura-san, hadn't she?

"Ryosei-kun!" a voice boomed from the bed. "What are you doing here? You wanted to see me being pampered by the nurses and the doctors who still won't let me leave?" A handsome man in his early thirties shook his head in exasperation, as if he had heard the comment more than once.

"Dad, you know what the doctors said," he murmured. "Not until you regain your strength."

"Oh, phooey with that!" Masazumi replied, sitting up in his bed, careless of the various wires attached to him. He glared at the adults in the room with an annoyance that obviously said no matter how weak they thought him to be, he was still their father. "I'm not sick. I'm as healthy as he is." He pointed towards Ryosei, who reddened slightly as some of the gazes turned towards him. Masazumi chuckled. "Poking me with a bunch of needles and stuffing me full of that paste they call food is not going to make me any better."

"Grampa! Grampa! Lookie!" a tiny, chubby hand reached over the edge of the bed and Yui found it comical that she couldn't even see the body to which the hand belonged to, only a patch of dark hair. The hand dumped a little shoe onto the bed and then the patch of hair began jumping up and down. "Mommy bought me new shoes! See! See!" The adults in the room laughed as the man who had spoken earlier scooped up the child – a boy with a face full of freckles – and the shoe and placed them both on his lap as he put the shoe back onto the foot it came off of.

Kaneko turned to Miaka and sighed, situating herself back in the chair. "That's my brother Eien and his son Hayato." She turned to the others in the room and began pointing out her sister, her two children, two cousins and the husband of one of them, and two uncles. The room was filled with the flurry of greetings, with Masazumi still looking exasperated right in the middle of it. Miaka knew that she would never be able to keep anyone's names straight after being introduced to so many people, and resolved just to stick to last names.

Masazumi turned towards Ryosei. "So, why did you come see an old fart like me?"

Ryosei laughed. "Sasaki-san said 'hi'. Besides, no one can clean up the library as well as you can." This caused a round of laughter to go around the room, and Miaka envied Ryosei's ability to easily endear himself to strangers by simply reaching them on common grounds, in this case, Masazumi.

One of the little children, one-year-old Kuma, approached her suddenly, and tugged on her shirt, making the universal gesture of 'up', reaching tiny little arms in the air. Miaka giggled and obliged, swinging the little boy up onto her hip and began a quiet game of peek-a-boo. The infant giggled in delight and clapped his hands together. The parents of the child looked at each other, and the mother (one of Kaneko's cousins, Miaka mentally noted) said, "He likes you. He usually doesn't go up to complete strangers." Kaneko grinned.

"Miaka-san works as a daycare attendant where I drop the troublesome trio off sometimes," she explained.

"It helps that I like children," added Miaka, bouncing the boy against her hip, causing him to erupt in gurgling giggles.

Yui watched her best friend with a proud look in her eyes, her gaze turning to rest on Masazumi. A brief shudder ran through her body, and she unconsciously swept her fingers through sleek blonde locks, suddenly hesitant. Another dream had crushed any chance of a decent sleep last night, this one more foreboding than the last. She could have sworn she had heard a serpent of some kind (she still was hesitant to acknowledge it has a dragon), and had seen a powerful blue light. And the book. The book had been there too, glowing with a faint iridescent golden light before being smothered by rolling dark shadows.

_Could it really be that he had a heart attack_, Yui thought, clicking her teeth together in concentration. _Or something else? He was near the room…did he see the book or did the book…_? She glanced at the man, as he made some side comment to something Ryosei had joked about. _I have to ask him, even if I sound foolish doing so. I need to know. I just_ need _to know_.

She walked over to the side of the bed where Ryosei was standing, and introduced herself again to Masazumi. A wide grin spread over his face. "A library patron come to visit an old janitor! Now I've heard everything!" Yui wondered how in the world she was going to ask him about his heart attack without sounding like a complete idiot in front of all these people. Ryosei was still standing right next to her, but some of the family members had been caught up in their own conversations. Miaka was talking with Kuma's parents and Kaneko, and it seemed that no one except for Ryosei and Masazumi were giving her any attention.

"Nishimura-san…I was wondering…" she started quietly, "…about your heart attack…you were near the Important Documents room when it happened…?" Masazumi went very quiet, and Yui caught the brief flash of hesitancy in his eyes when she mentioned his heart attack. _He doesn't believe it_, she thought incredulously. _He doesn't believe it was a heart attack_. Discouraging herself from jumping to conclusions, she asked another question that would have seemed remarkably inconsequential. "Does the Universe of the Four Gods mean anything to you?"

Masazumi's eyes widened at Yui, looking at her as if she were some sort of demon goddess – beautiful, yet wickedly deadly. She almost thought she saw Ryosei stiffen next to her, but when she glanced at him, he was glancing at her with a confused look in his eyes. Well, why shouldn't he be confused? She had just asked a man who had supposedly had a heart attack whether or not he had heard of certain book before. She swallowed, turning an apologetic look to Masazumi. "I'm sorry, sir. I was just wondering." He looked at her for a long moment, and finally realized what she was getting at.

"A-hem!" he cleared his throat loudly, causing all attention to revert to him. A chipper grin appeared on his face as he began gesturing towards the door. "Family, you know I love you, even though you give me a grandchild or grandniece or grandnephew every other month. But, I need to talk to Hongo-san about a few important changes that have been at the library. Confidential business, and all that." A few of the family members shot Yui suspicious looks, and she managed not to turn red under their questioning glances and quickly whispered something to him. "Oh, and Yuki-san too. Um…friendly support. It'll only be for a moment."

It took a few more moments of convincing before the room cleared out of all people. Ryosei mentioned that he would go and take some of the children down the gift shop so that their parents could actually talk in peace. Yui hid a smile as Ryosei was suddenly laden down with five screaming, energetic children, and could only hope that he wouldn't end up in the hospital himself from losing his sanity. Miaka still supported Kuma on her waist, but she soon found a chair near to bed to sit in and began bouncing the infant on her knee.

The minute the door closed, Masazumi's face darkened. "How did you know about that book?" he asked suspiciously, and Yui noticed that Miaka nearly dropped Kuma from the mention of the book. She didn't even need to be told exactly what book it was.

"We've known about it for nearly two years, sir," explained Yui, motioning for Miaka to give her some support. The russet-haired girl nodded in agreement, though her green eyes were wide in shock. "When I heard of your…accident, I didn't think it was for natural causes." She glanced sideways at him. "You didn't have a heart attack, did you?" Masazumi glowered at her, but finally sighed, a weary look replacing the fierce one he had had on his face just seconds earlier. He shook his head.

"I was confused when I first came here and they said that I need to recuperate from a heart attack," he explained, sitting up in bed. "Because I think I would have remembered having a heart attack. But…I _do_ remembering going into that room, tripping over the book, and putting it back in the shelf. Then, as I left…" He trailed off, shaking his head. "It sounds silly now. I tried telling my wife when she first came in here, and she said it was a dream. I could have expected that, but a dream does _not_ feel that real!" Yui and Miaka shared similar glances as the room went quiet, except for the beeping of the heart monitor. It couldn't be true…could it?

"Anyway, I heard this…voice, I guess you could say, saying something about a god being sealed and some priestess awaiting her destiny," Masazumi continued, a look of pure consternation appearing on his face. "It sounds something straight out of a children's fantasy book – in fact, I thought it was at first – but then, these…shadows spilled from the book…and the last thing I remember is something…or someone…choking me…" He glanced up at the girls. "Lucky me someone forgot his wallet and had to come back to the library." He peered at the two girls and found that both of them had gone a startling shade of white, especially the one sitting on the chair and holding his grandnephew. She turned huge green eyes towards the blonde girl, her mouth gaping in surprise.

"Yui-chan…it can't be true…" she managed to choke out. "The book is _over_! It's been over for almost two years! This can't be happening!" Yui herself was thinking along the same lines, and felt her breath quickening. The book was over, it had been over even when Tenkou had tried to crush the them last year. But with this new situation…the book actually attacking an innocent bystander…and a god being sealed? What in the world was happening?

"We have to tell Taka…" Yui gasped out, turning to Miaka, stunned. Miaka shook her head vehemently, trying to grasp the reality of this situation.

"Yui-chan, there's more…there's more to the book at the end," she explained, tripping over her words. "Keisuke read it to me last night. It said something about the celestial warriors being connected with the priestess forever, and that all journeys start back at the beginning. What can it mean? Is the book starting over again, or what?" Masazumi looked completely confused by this point by the girls' rambling, and he was starting to worry that one of them would faint dead away. He didn't want to believe that what had happened to him Friday night was actually true, but he found no other way to explain it, especially if these girls, who weren't even there, knew that it was lie when they said he had had a heart attack.

Miaka rose to her feet, still holding Kuma at her hip, and looking a bit unsteady. "Nishimura-san, I want to thank you for…for telling us the truth. You have no idea how much this helped…" Masazumi glanced and saw that there was still shock brimming on the edge of her eyes. He wondered if he had actually harmed them more than he had helped them. And why was it so important to them that they know of the shadows that were in the book? He was more confused now than when he had been when they first brought him to the hospital.

"What's so dangerous about that book?" he asked as they headed towards the door. Both girls stopped and turned, both giving him incredulous stares as he fixated them with a stern grandfather look. "I know from your reactions that the book is dangerous – it nearly killed me after all. How are you two caught up in this book, and what's going to happen with that book?" Miaka gave Yui a long look before walking towards Masazumi, her head bowed slightly.

"It's a dangerous book, you're right," she said quietly, her voice shaking slightly. "We found that out two years ago when we first found the book in the library. There's a spell over it, and we thought it was over. But…I guess there's more to it than we thought. Please." She looked up suddenly, and the sincere pleading in her emerald eyes took Masazumi's breath away. "Please, Nishimura-san. Don't tell anyone else about this book. I don't want anyone to get hurt. Especially not your family. Just…just believe that you had a heart attack and forget about this. _Please_."

Well, he had never heard someone so sincerely ask for his cooperation before, especially not from someone so young. And she looked so desperate for him to say yes, as if the world was depending on his agreement. It made him wonder what they were planning to do. If the book was so dangerous, it wouldn't be safe for them either. And he wasn't someone who would just let people go ahead and propel themselves into danger without knowing they'd be alright.

The pause was relentless, and Yui almost thought that he would refuse. But then, she saw him nod his head in understanding, a calm look appearing in dark eyes. "Do what you must. A few days ago, I would have proclaimed you both crazy. But…you have to promise me one thing." Miaka nodded. "Don't do anything stupid. You'll have to take care of yourselves. I know whatever you're going to do is going to be dangerous, and I won't be able to forget about this unless you promise me you'll be careful."

"Of course," Miaka replied. "Of course." She gave the man a sad smile before turning and exiting the room. Yui also gave a farewell nod to Masazumi before following after her best friend, leaving him to contemplate exactly what the hell had just happened. Soon, his family flocked back into the room, ready to engage in various bits of conversation and to chide him not to work so hard anymore. Outside, he could see Miaka give Kuma back to her mother and Ryosei return with the flock of grandchildren, dumping them off with their respective parents before following Yui and Miaka down the hall to leave.

_Did that really just happen_, he thought to himself as a tiny shoe landed in his lap. He frowned.

_Who were those two girls really…?_

xxxxx

"So that's what happened, huh?" Tetsuya sighed, glancing through the book on his lap before closing it wearily. He ran his hand through dark locks and shook his head, placing the book onto the table in front of him. "I can't believe it. After all this time, and now it's starting all over again. I guess…I guess it's a good thing you guys _did_ get the book. Looks like we're going to need it again."

As soon as they had departed from Ryosei, Yui and Miaka had made a beeline for Keisuke's apartment. Keisuke had found on his doorstep two very upset priestesses, and, after ushering them in, offered them enough tea to soothe their nerves. When they had manage to calm down enough to explain what Masazumi had told them, Keisuke had immediately called Tetsuya and Taka to inform them of the latest news concerning the book. Neither had been too happy to hear of the possible dangers emerging from it.

Yui sighed. "But it makes no sense. The book just cuts off right at the end, and nothing has changed at the beginning. Even when we fought Tenkou, there was _something_ mentioned in here at the end." She took the book from Tetsuya's lap and glanced warily at the front cover. "All we know is that it has something to do with the seishi being always connected with the priestess and that all journeys start back at the beginning. Does that tell us _anything_ of importance?"

Taka frowned, sitting back in the couch. Miaka was curled up next to him, her head resting on his chest and looking for all the world to see as if someone had just put in charge of all the nations of the world. Her soulmate wrapped an arm around her before raising his eyes to meet his other three companions. "I'm not saying that this is exactly the right thing to do, but maybe we should just let whatever has to play out happen first. Right now, we can't really anticipate what this all means." He took in a deep breath. "It sounds confusing, but maybe the questions will be answered soon."

"Yeah," murmured Miaka distractedly as she look at the book in Yui's hands. She had hoped that when Masazumi was attacked, it was because of some defense mechanism in the book, but the odd words that had mysteriously filled the last pages had left her ruffled. Back to the beginning? The Seven connected to the priestess? Had it just been stating the obvious or was there a subtle warning in the message, a hint of dire things to come?

Miaka shivered and buried her face in Taka's sweatshirt, closing her eyes. She didn't want to go back. Even though she couldn't deny what had happened in the book (Taka was her living proof), she didn't think she was strong enough to handle whatever trials might come up next. The first time, her adventure had cost her Yui, four of her faithful warriors and dearest friends, Tamahome's family, dozens of innocents caught up in the war, and even those she had left behind to deal with a war-ravaged Konan. Could she deal with a new quest?

_I know they expect me to be strong when it comes to this_, Miaka thought dejectedly, biting her thumbnail. _But if what I feel comes true, I'll shatter. I won't be able to…oh, Taka, give me strength_…

She turned her attention back to the conversation, emerald eyes downcast with worry and dreaded anticipation. "So we wait then. Something big is going to happen, and it might be even worse than with Tenkou if the book isn't mentioning anything." The others flinched at the thought of dealing with someone or something even worse than Tenkou, but there was nothing any of them could really do to stop it. Miaka sighed.

_And so, it begins again…_

xxxxx

Somewhere else, close by or faraway, a young man looked out his window and sighed, shaking his head. "And so, the beginning of the end is already here…" He wrinkled his nose and checked his watch. "And who would have thought 7:41 would be such an important time?" The clinging noise behind him told him that his bagel was ready, and he approached the toaster hesitantly. The little machine always had a knack for sending toast and bagels flying into his face, burnt to a crisp.

_Maybe I should buy a new one…_, he thought darkly as a blackened wheat projectile clonked him on the nose. _Well…this is embarrassing…_

He muttered something under his breath as he tossed the burnt bagel into the trash and opted for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead.

xxxxx

Miaka _hated_ gym class.

In fact, she rather preferred facing Nakago or Tenkou than suffering through this torturous hour every other day. At least they wouldn't give her a grade on performance and her ability to work along with the team. And why was it that whenever they were split into teams, she was always stuck with the jocks who left her out of everything and treated her like a nuisance? All the nice people were _always_ on the other team.

Well, at least it never bothered her if her team lost.

She swayed on the base she stood on, feeling altogether bored as one of her teammates, a burly young man who was on the wrestling team, stomped up to home plate. The members of the opposite team all seemed to take a few giant steps backwards – the young man's kicks were infamous. Miaka remembered one time when someone had gotten hit in the head with one of the balls and received a very nasty lump that left him unconscious for more hours than should have been needed.

"Ugh, I hate this game," Miaka grumbled, crossing her arms. Kickball, she believed, was one of the many sports that school created just to annoy and frustrate students. The boy standing guard of the base she was on grinned.

"You and me both," he chuckled as the pitcher rolled the ball forward and the wrestler took a running start towards it. Miaka sighed as the foot and the ball connected, and watched as the kickball went soaring over the fence into the teacher's parking lot. Her team cheered loudly as one of the girls on the opposite team scrambled over the fence to go retrieve the ball. Miaka didn't run to the last two bases, knowing that there was no need to. She calmly walked to home plate, earning her team another point, before going to sit in the bleachers.

Sayoko smirked at her as she sat down. "You seem so enthusiastic out there, Miaka-chan." The copper-haired girl made a face.

"Yeah, yeah. I just hate kickball. In fact, I hate gym."

"I can see the love blossoming on your face right now."

Miaka rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. Sayoko giggled, and the two watched as the rest of the game continued, not really interested, since they already knew who was going to win. And within ten minutes, their assumptions were proved correct as Miaka's team began cheering loudly at their victory, having won by six points. A bell interrupted the revelry, and soon the students were heading back inside the building to the locker rooms.

"So, I heard that you've been talking to this guy from Jonan," Sayoko teased gently as Miaka buttoned up her shirt. "He tutors, he's cute, and he's smart. It seems as if you've given up on Taka." Miaka's face burned red, and she struggled to hide it as she brushed out her hair.

"No…that's not it," she mumbled. "He's a friend, that's all. We ran into him at the library. He's nice, but there's no way I'm giving up on Taka." _Not after I defied heaven and earth to get him_, she thought to herself as she slipped on her forest green jacket. "Besides, why would I try to get another boyfriend when you don't even have one?" Sayoko glared at her, but laughed anyway as she wiped her glasses on her skirt. "I can introduce you, if you like. His football team is playing ours after school." Sayoko shook her head.

"Sorry, but I have to pick up my little brother as soon as the game starts," the redhead explained with a wink. "My parents are off to a romantic weekend up north for their anniversary. So guess who gets to baby-sit all weekend?" Miaka grinned at the face her friend made as they left from the locker room and headed towards their last class, study hall. Along the way, Yui joined them and the three girls fell into a conversation about the classes they already had today. Miaka noticed that Yui looked a bit tired and downcast. There seemed to be a spark missing in her eyes, and the Suzaku no miko didn't have to wonder why.

The news that the book wasn't quite over had taken its toll on all of them, leaving all anticipating and dreading the worst. If anything was worse than Tenkou, Miaka sure didn't want to have to face it. She didn't want to die and she certainly didn't want to lose her friends again. Keisuke had been right when she had first told him about the book – it was dangerous and she shouldn't have gotten involved. But in some way, she was right too, and she was still being proven right. The book would never relinquish its hold on her until she finished it.

But when would it be finished? They had thought it was finished twice. How many more endings could there be? How much information could be packed into the one extra passage? She had been wondering about that all week since their meeting, and had come up with nothing. It had ended so abruptly, so ominously. And that's what probably scared her the most. The glimpses of nightmares she couldn't remember when she awoke haunted her dreams, and left her shaking, sobbing, and sweating. But for the life of her, she couldn't remember those dreams. She supposed they were bad enough, but she didn't remember them.

_Why would I want to remember them?_ Miaka thought sourly as she walked into the classroom and took her seat behind Yui. _Whew, I'm glad this is study hall. I hate having to go to a class right after gym! I'm always too tired…and too hungry…to pay attention._ She opened her school bag, pulled out a notebook and her copy of _King Lear_ and began reading through it. She wondered if they would be done reading the tragedy before the new teacher from America arrived. She hoped so – at least then, maybe it wouldn't be so hard to understand.

She was deep into the latter part of the second act when a folded piece of paper landed on her desk. Miaka blinked, lifted her head and looked around the room. Save for the whispered conversation between the teacher and a student, the room was silent. She glanced at the bow-tie shaped note and glanced at Yui, who tilted her head slightly and winked at her. Miaka grinned and silently unfolded the sheet of paper.

**The game doesn't start until an hour after school ends. Want to get something to eat with Joruri and Sayoko before then?**

Miaka smiled happily at the thought of food, and tapped Yui on the shoulder, nodding her reply. Yui gave her a grin before turning back to her own book, leaving Miaka to contemplate exactly what she was in the mood for. She tapped her pencil against her notebook, chewing the eraser thoughtfully, before looking down at the Shakespearian language in front of her. Well, here was one of the things she possibly hated more than gym. When Kiyoso-sensei found out that quite a large number of the students in his class had failed the _King Lear_ test, he had been…well, furious would be quite the understatement. As punishment, all the students had been assigned to take up another Shakespearian play and right an entire five-page essay on it.

Yui had already chosen _The Twelfth Night_, but Miaka had no idea what to choose. _Everyone's going to choose the same thing, I bet! I can't believe he could be so mean…!_ She looked down at the paperback in front of her and scrunched up her nose, opening it to the inside flap, where the rest of Shakespeare's plays were named. _I bet this guy didn't even want his works to be dissected by mean old grumpy English substitutes…I hate English!_ She peered curiously at the list, chewing her eraser even more. _I wonder how much he'd like it if I wrote about the ShiJenTenChiSho! Of course, he'll probably think I made it up since I'm one of the main characters!_

Her train of thought paused as a certain title caught her attention. She looked around the classroom and saw that the teacher had returned to his desk and was reading the newspaper. Satisfied, Miaka quietly tore a small band of paper from her notebook and wrote a note to Yui. She stuffed the note in her book and handed it to her friend. Yui turned, blinked at the strange gift, and gave Miaka a look. The confused look disappeared off her face once the folded piece of paper fell out.

A few moments later, the piece of paper, once again folded into a bow-tie, dropped back onto Miaka's desk, and she quickly unfolded it to read it.

**It's a romantic comedy. I think you'd like it – it has lots of fantasy in it, and there's a happy ending. I definitely recommend it. It's not as hard to understand as _King Lear_ – it's a fun read. If you do choose it and read it, tell me how you enjoyed it!**

Miaka smiled happily, tucking the note away in her school bag. It looked like after the game tonight, she would have to pay a visit to the library. She winced at the thought of the library, not as she would have done two years ago, because it was something academic. Now, whenever she thought of the library or books, her mind would always wander back to the thought of the book that had both cursed and blessed her.

_I bet Shakespeare didn't put magic spells on_ his _books_, she thought, looking up at the ceiling. _I'd hate to be transported to King Lear's time. But then again, so many people have read his books,_ someone _would have noticed if they were bad or not…unless they never get out…what if all these people in his stories are actually real people who got stuck…oh, man…I'm losing my mind…_She scowled briefly before burying her head into the tragic play.

"What's with the long face?" Yui asked as they walked out of class together along with Sayoko. Miaka made a face – was it really that obvious that she had been pouting all throughout study hall? Yui grinned. "You look as if someone told you that there were no restaurants nearby." Sayoko giggled as Miaka stuck out her tongue.

"That's not it, Yui!" she exclaimed. "I was just thinking about the…ah, uh…assignment! Yeah! The assignment Kiyoso-sensei gave us. You know how unfair he is! It's not our fault half the class can't understand old English! Some of us are still grasping modern day English as it is." Yui and Sayoko shared looks, and Miaka suddenly groaned. "Let me guess. You two actually passed the test." Sayoko smiled and rubbed the base of her neck.

"Well…it wasn't _that_ hard if you read the beginning part of act two like you were supposed to…"

"I _hate_ English…the only subject I like at school is…"

"Lunch?"

"Yui, you know me too well."

The trio emerged from a side door in the school where Joruri was waiting for them. The dark-haired girl was flipping through a fashion magazine, and didn't notice the group until they were standing right next to her. She finally looked up, gave them all a brief frown that told them that she hated waiting, and then stuffed the magazine into her bag. "I can't believe I'm agreeing to go to this football game. And I can believe Motoki refused to go!"

Miaka frowned. "But didn't Motoki's hockey coach call an emergency practice thing?" Joruri mumbled something under her breath and Miaka took that as a yes. She scratched her head. "I think you'll see him again. Last time I checked, he wasn't abducted by aliens or sucked into some sort of magical book." Yui shot her a look that was a mixture of disapproval and amusement, and Miaka had to shrug as Sayoko and Joruri shared looks. "Anyway, where are we going to eat?"

The girls argued for around five minutes until Yui suggested a small little café just around the corner for a small, light meal. "It's sometimes crowded around this time because students from the college a few blocks away visit here," Yui explained as the quartet walked down the street. "But I think if we hurry we can beat the afternoon rush." Miaka had cheered at the thought of sandwiches, and was also anxious about the game in an hour. The past week had been tumultuous, what with learning about the book and preparing herself for a possible battle in the near future. Of course, Ryosei's presence had calmed her a bit. The sixteen-year-old's enthusiasm and cheerfulness were contagious and whenever she was around him, she felt a whole lot better.

_Maybe because he's something new, someone not associated with the book_, a voice in her head piped up. Miaka had to agree. Ryosei was a breath of fresh air when destiny seemed to suddenly crush her. She hated that all this was happening within a week's time. (But then again, when something like this had happened before, everything had always taken place _within_ a week…)

The girls entered into the café and sat themselves at a booth that allowed them to watch people coming in and leaving out of the small restaurant. A waitress came up to their table almost immediately and gave the group a practiced brilliant smile. "Hello, minna-chan. My name is Megumi. Is there anything I can get you to drink or are you ready to order?"

"Just drinks, right now," Sayoko commented, and the waitress wrote down their orders before disappearing behind a door that led to the kitchen. The redhead looked around the café and smiled. "This is a cute place, Yui."

"Cute?" Yui asked, blinking. "Well, I guess that's one way to describe it." She began paging through the menu before looking up. "So, Joruri-chan, have you convinced Motoki-kun to take up football? I know you two were arguing about it earlier this week…"

"I don't argue," Joruri muttered, flipping a strand of ebony hair over her shoulder. Miaka resisted the urge to say something about the girl's uppity attitude, and instead turned her eyes towards the different sandwiches the café had to offer. "And, no. He didn't change his mind. He's sticking to that stupid hockey. Honestly…" Miaka suddenly lifted her head up, remembering the conversation she and Yui had had earlier in the week when Ryosei had mentioned something about a star player on their football team. She hadn't really thought much of it since then (the presence of the book occupied most of the thoughts in her mind), but the scampering memory was finally nailed down.

She ran a hand through her auburn waves (for once, she had decided not to put it up in her classic odango-style) and glanced at Joruri. "Joruri, I remember a friend of mine saying that we have a star player on the football team. Do you know who he is?" Joruri blinked and then flushed indignantly, confirming Miaka's thoughts. Whoever it was must have been _way_ out of Joruri's league – either that, or he gave her the brush off when she tried to flirt (which Miaka prayed was before Motoki).

Yui noticed Joruri turn red and cleared her throat, shooting a glance at Miaka that told her to knock it off. "Yeah, we just heard about it from someone who plays for Jonan's football team. Arai Ryosei?" Joruri blinked.

"Arai-san? You _know_ him?" At Yui and Miaka's dumbfounded nods, Joruri gave a brief squeal. "I can't believe you didn't tell me. He is the hottest guy at Jonan, I swear! And he's smart and he plays for the football team, the baseball team, the basketball team, and he's in chess and debate!" Joruri waved a hand in front of her flushed face, and sighed melodramatically, hazel eyes flashing in memory. The other three girls shared looks and simultaneously rolled their eyes. For someone who had a boyfriend, Joruri sure was getting all hot and bothered by someone a year younger than them.

Miaka quietly began folding her napkin into an origami frog, ignoring the rest of the group as Sayoko and Yui chastised Joruri for wanting any other boy other than Motoki. _Well, it's not like Motoki-kun is bad or anything…_, Miaka thought, frowning in concentration. _Okay, so maybe it seems like he's not all there all the time…but I'm sure it's not his fault he's always so spacey. _She made a face. _Now, _he's_ a real jock. Well…except he's smart too…but he never acts smart…he's a big goofball…but I like him. He's funny, sometimes._

The waitress came back to the table then, balancing a tray holding their drinks in one hand. The girls thanked her, and immediately went back to their conversation. Well, the other three did, as Miaka added the finishing touches onto her origami frog, sipping quietly at her soda and removing herself from the conversation. After a few moments, she turned her head to gaze out the window.

_None of them would be too happy with me about now_, she thought as she watched people pass along the sidewalk. _They'd say I was moping around too much. Nuriko would say that I worry too much, and Mitsukake would try to comfort me. Hotohori would be there for me too, and Chiriko…well, he'd probably advise me to get my mind off it by studying. Tasuki would mutter something about girls being worrywarts and Chichiri would give some good advice on dealing with this…_

Miaka felt a lone tear run down her face, alerting her to its presence. She gasped slightly and quickly wiped it away before the others could see it. She glanced over at her three friends – pretty Joruri, intelligent Sayoko, and…Yui. Her closest of all her friends. But, deep in Miaka's heart, despite how much she loved Yui and the others, she would have given anything to be sitting at that table with the Suzaku seven. She missed them so badly. Would they be able to help her this time like they had when Tenkou had arrived?

_No…by now, they've been reincarnated into their chosen forms_, Miaka thought, twirling her soda and ice with her straw. _Even so, I can't go back into the book. I wonder how many years have passed…it's only been two here…I wonder how Tasuki and Chichiri are doing…I miss all them so much…_

"Earth to Miaka!"

Miaka's head snapped up, and she blinked into three different pairs of eyes. "Huh? What did you say?" Joruri snorted, giving Miaka a bit of a disappointed look.

"See, I told you she wasn't paying attention." Yui gave Miaka a worried look, disconcerted by the sadness emanating from emerald-green eyes. But…did she also look _guilty_? Yui wondered about that, even as Miaka plunged back into the conversation. She wasn't entirely sure what has caused such feelings to appear in Miaka's eyes, but she had a sinking feeling that it was connected to the book.

It seems that lately, all of their problems were tired back in to the book. Yui had really believed that the book was complete when Tenkou tried to bring domination to the two worlds, but now…? What if they faced someone even stronger than Tenkou? Yui didn't want to see anyone else die. She wanted to live a peaceful life. The curse of being a priestess should have passed since that adventure early last year. At least…that's what she wanted to think.

_I wonder if the same thing happened to Takiko and Suzuno_, Yui thought as the waitress brought them their food. _No, it couldn't have happened to them. Takiko…died when she returned from the book, and Suzuno was forced to live her life without Tatara. That was the pain they had to go through._ She frowned. _But Miaka got Taka in the end, and neither of us were in pain from being consumed by the beast god. Well, that's all thanks to Miaka. She made those selfless wishes in order for those around her to be happy._ She smiled as she glanced over at Miaka, who was cheerfully teasing Sayoko about a secret admirer. _And her reward was Taka._

"Great! Now Yui's spaced out!"

Yui blinked, and realized that the attention had turned towards her. She laughed slightly, before taking a bite of her sandwich. "Sorry, you guys. I was just thinking about that test tomorrow for chemistry. After the football game, I'm going to have to go and study for it." Miaka made a face at her best friend and Yui gave her a raspberry. "I can't help it if I find the time to study, and you can't. Maybe if you stopped making googly-eyes at Taka all the time…"

"I do not make googly-eyes at Taka!"

"…then maybe we could study together tonight." Joruri and Sayoko turned their attention to Miaka, who was now beet red. She glared down at the huge sandwich and then back up at Yui, pouting. She seemed to be contemplating this offer as she picked at the lettuce of the sandwich. Finally, she lifted her brunette head, a huge grin on her face.

"Yui, I think it's time that _you_ get a boyfriend!"

The screeching and laughter that followed answered the statement.

xxxxx

He knew he was coming before he even appeared.

The young man rounded the corner, a bag slung over his shoulder, and looking a bit dazed as his eyes fell on the figure resting against the wall of the gym. He blinked uncertainly, and then cocked his head to the side. "Waiting for someone?" The black-clothed man lifted his head, and the young man peered in the fathomless shadows of the hood. The only things he could see of the man's features were the man's lower face and a few wispy strands of platinum-blonde hair.

The man seemed to be watching him curiously, as if studying him. "Yes. I am." He straightened up from his position on the wall, a small smile curving onto his face. "I've been waiting for you." The young man was about to remark something along the lines that he'd never seen this stranger before in his entire life when he noticed the darkness surrounding the man. It wasn't literal darkness, but inky aura that seemed to cloak him like some second coat was almost as disturbingly visual as the coat he actually wore.

"Hey, I'd love to talk," the young man murmured, stepping away from the dark man, "but I'm late as it is." He turned to sprint away, but he found that his body would not cooperate with what his mind was screaming at him to do. He hesitated, and then turned to glance at the figure, who was still watching him with keen interest.

"I'm surprised you don't remember me," the man whispered quietly, a note of sadness in his voice that was not at all cloaked the smile he was still wearing. "But…it's been awhile, hasn't it?" The young man didn't know what to say to that. Maybe it was one of his parent's weird friends – heaven knows they had a ton of them.

He wasn't at all prepared for the sudden darkening of his vision. He had been too wrapped in his thoughts to notice the minute twitch in the man's hand, hardly enough to be considered a movement, but just enough to take him by surprise. His bag dropped to the ground as he stumbled backwards, crying out in surprise and fear. _What the heck…what's going on!?_

Something inside him was reacting to the bottomless cold blackness that was enveloping his mind, something oddly familiar. Whatever it was, it seemed to be an anchor in the pitch darkness, and, he desperately tried to grab it, to hold onto it. But when he was certain his mental fingertips were just brushing the faintly glowing _something_, it too was wrapped in the darkness, yanked away faster than he could reach it.

_No!_ he shouted in his mind, trying to get it back. He needed whatever it was. He hadn't even known he had had it, but it was _his_. And the darkness was trying to take it away. It was important, then, if those shadows were trying to take it away from him. He reached out for it again, mentally kicking and screaming, but the shadows that had ripped that _something_ away were now holding him back roughly. He cursed bitterly in his mind, trying to pull himself away from the darkness, but finding that the presence was far too overwhelming to ignore. No matter how much he pushed and pulled, he simply didn't have the strength to fight against that _power_.

The man watched as the youth sank to the ground in a dead faint, half-collapsing on his bag. He approached the slumped body with an air of amusement as he quietly searched his victim's mind, kneeling down on the ground next to him, and frowning. It seems the boy was a fighter – he certainly wasn't giving up that hidden portion of his mind so quickly.

"So this is the type of person you've become…" the man whispered as the young man whimpered quietly under his mental assault. The mind-link wasn't as strong as it could be, but with just the slightest thought, the stranger could annihilate the boy's memories and mutilate what would have been left of his mind, leaving him a simple shell of his former self. He shook his head as the shadows within the young man's mind confined him, pulling him from that _something_ he held so dear, no matter how hidden it was. "Well, we'll see how much you know."

He paged through the young man's memories as if they were his own, frowning as he came across the past month of the his life. A smooth, uncanny smile drifted across the man's face like some demonic ghost. "And this is where I come in." He grasped the mental lines that tied the two men together, and began twisting them around, altering memories, replacing them with new ones.

The trespassing of the mind, the personal, sacred space of all, is on many levels worse than rape, which is something, when considered, plausible. But the rape of the mind is something unheard of, and the deep recesses of the mind should _never_ be violated. The thought didn't even cross the man's mind as he continued his work. The shadows that he had planted in their earlier meeting had taken control some times, but now, it was time for complete dominance. He buried the hallowed _something_ beneath layers and layers of shadows, and rose to his feet as he disconnected the magical lines that had linked their minds. Even as he pulled out of the boy's mind, he could sense the glowing presence of the thing, trying to break the chains he had wrapped around it.

"And this is how it will begin," he whispered, sounding not entirely apologetic, but not wholly detached either. He took one more glance at the prone body of the boy before walking off into the shadows created by the building.

A few moments later, the young man walked from behind the building, completely oblivious to the missing minutes in his life, and no longer remembering the _something_ buried deep within his mind.

xxxxx

Miaka, Yui, and Joruri arrived at the football field around fifteen minutes before the game was supposed to start, soon after departing from Sayoko. The Yotsubadai field was a hole in the ground – literally. It wasn't at all level with the surrounding buildings – instead, it was built around ten feet below the ground, with the stands surrounding it on its north and south borders. Rain often proved disastrous for the field, as giant mud puddles would suddenly take up all the available space on the usually verdant playing fields. The goalposts for American football were currently down until next month, when the training began.

The stands surrounding the field were slowly on their way to becoming crowded, and the three girls were surprised to find nice wide space on the second row from the field. A few of the football players who played for Yotsubadai were leaning against the rail that separated the field from the stands and talking to some of their classmates. The other players were out on the field, stretching or doing other exercises to help prepare for the game. Miaka glanced around the field, and saw that the players from Jonan were a little further down. She hesitated when she didn't see Ryosei.

Yui followed her gaze as they sat down and grinned. "Don't worry. He'll be here." Joruri raised an eyebrow at the two, but her eyes quickly landed on the captain of the football team. She watched in complete adoration – though, Yui noted with dry approval, it was restrained enough to give respect to the absent Motoki – until the captain's girlfriend came up to him. Soon, she rolled her eyes away in disgust and Yui and Miaka shared looks.

"You know, I've been thinking, Yui," Miaka murmured as she glanced at the scoreboard, "who are we supposed to be cheering for?" Yui opened her mouth to respond, and then stopped. What a good question. She blinked at her friend, who raised an eyebrow in curiosity and then, simultaneously, they both looked up at the scoreboard. "Yeah, those were my exact thoughts."

"Well, I hoped you'd cheer for me, but…"

The two girls spun around and saw Ryosei leaning against the rail and grinning up at them. Joruri gasped slightly, and then quickly turned her attention to her compact, which she hastily pulled out of her purse. Miaka grinned at the young man, who was resting one foot against the black-and-white football. "Hey, I didn't see you earlier. You just get here?" Ryosei shook his head, causing his spiky bangs to bounce against his forehead.

"We all got here at the same time," he replied, gesturing to the rest of his teammates out on the field. "But I sort of wandered off. Not exactly the _best_ idea if you want to deal with my coach, who pretty much yelled at me for being irresponsible, blockheaded, rude, ignorant, and whole bunch of other things that simply aren't true." He grinned as Miaka rolled her eyes and Yui hid a snicker. Joruri glanced briefly at him before turning her attention back to her compact, blushing furiously.

Miaka looked out at the rest of the team. "So, is your rival here?" Ryosei frowned a bit at the world "rival" and seemed to almost look a bit confused. A second later, an expression of understanding bloomed across his face and he glanced briefly out towards the fields. He turned back to them and shook his head, looking perplexed again, and then looking back out to the other team's players.

"If he is, I don't see him," he murmured, so quietly that neither Miaka or Yui could hear it. "But that makes all the difference, doesn't it?" He suddenly turned back to his friends, grinning. "But if you see someone running like the blazes out there, it's definitely going to be him. I swear, he's _fast_." Yui could have sworn Miaka murmured something about red-haired bandits under her breath at that moment, but chose to ignore it. Instead, she gave Ryosei a thumbs-up as the referee suddenly blew the whistle so the teams could plan their strategy in the ten minutes before the game started.

While the teams split into their two separate groups, Miaka glanced over at the Jonan team. She knew a few of the players on the team, including Chomei and Haru from gym class, Izumo from English, and Matsu from world studies. There were also two boys from her chemistry class, one from computer sciences, and a couple of upperclassmen as well. A few of them appeared to be out of Joruri's league, but she couldn't very well be sure without meeting them. She glanced at the boy who had run into a tree earlier in the week – easily recognizable by the bandage on his forehead and the way he seemed to bounce from one player to the next with incessant energy – and sighed.

Miaka glanced over at Yui, and was surprised to see that her focus wasn't on their school's team, but on Jonan's team. In fact, the way she was glancing made Miaka think she wasn't looking at the team as a whole, but more at one…

The resounding smack on the forehead was nothing compared to the sheer stupidity that washed over Miaka at that moment. She could have called herself "baka" in at least six different languages (if she had known six), and nearly did. Of _course_ Yui would be attracted to Ryosei, even if he was a year younger than them. He was smart, funny, athletic, handsome, and just an all-around good-guy to be around. If it hadn't been for Taka, she probably would be drooling at him too. And it didn't help that Miaka had earlier teased Yui about getting a boyfriend. She giggled to herself. Of course, now she would have to tease Yui about dumping poor Tetsuya out on the street.

_Ooh, I'm gonna fry her after this game is over!_ Miaka snickered. _After all that talk that I look at other guys when I'm with Taka…she's gonna get it!_

Miaka was still thinking of ways to embarrass her friend when the game started. Fans of the Jonan team cheered from one side of the field, while Yotsubadai's players received their encouragement from the other. Miaka still wasn't quite sure who to cheer on, and decided to stick with the ambivalent 'go, team!' phrase – if any one asked her, she could always say she was cheering for either team. Of course, she would have loved to call out Ryosei's name, but that would have earned her enough poisonous looks to silence her for the rest of the game.

It wasn't as if it was a _bad_ game. In fact, it was very interesting, as far as football games go. Each team chased the tail of the other, and whenever one side scored, within a few minutes, the other team was right behind them. The goalies were doing their job as much as they could, but they couldn't prevent _all_ footballs from flying into the nets. Miaka watched with the intensity of one not learned in the sport, but still eager about the competition. From the little she knew about football, these players were _very_ good. She noticed some fancy footwork and teamwork going on out there.

_And I still don't see Speedy_, she thought to herself as Jonan scored a point. _Maybe he's a secret weapon…or something._ She watched in amusement as students from her school powered their way down to their goal. Yui was also cheering their team along, though Miaka could tell whenever she wanted to cheer Ryosei, she converted to Miaka's cheering slogan. Joruri had settled back between watching the game and talking on her cell. It wasn't as irritating as it used to be, but it still bordered on annoying.

The score was tied five to five by the time Yotsubadai asked for a brief time-out. The football players all looked like a various degrees of hell, and Miaka had a feeling that they were exhausting themselves just to keep up with Jonan. Not that anyone could blame them – Jonan wasn't just exceptionally good at academics. The trophy case at their school was a testimony to that. Miaka tugged at a thick strand of russet-colored hair and then made a face at Yui. "I have a feeling we're going to lose."

"And to think, I'm not in the least bit upset over that," Yui replied with a teasing grin. "I want Ryosei's team to win…"

"But I want us to win too!" exclaimed Miaka as the referee's whistle blew. "Well, either way it goes, we win some, we lose some." Yui rolled her eyes at the poor joke before laughing quietly, and turning her attention back to the ongoing game. She liked some sports too, but she was a far cry from the enthusiastic students at school who practically lived for school spirit. Sports just weren't her thing when it came to expressing love for the school – academics suited her more comfortably. Yui looked out at the field and watched as Jonan captured the ball again and began heading towards their goal. Their team was beginning to wear out from the abuse, and Yui prepared herself for the inevitable.

Of course, the inevitable is never written stone.

Yui blinked as she realized the Jonan no longer had the ball. In fact, all she had really seen was one of their players dribbling the ball down the field, getting ready to pass, when suddenly, the ball simply wasn't there anymore. The gasp and cheers from the crowd behind her told her that their team obviously had the ball. But who…? She readjusted her shocked vision to follow the Jonan players as they suddenly realized that their point was no longer assured. She watched as they suddenly turned in the opposite direction and began chasing one of the Yotsubadai players towards his goal.

Miaka, who was just as shocked as the rest of them to suddenly see the balance altered, looked at the lithe football player as he dribbled the ball down the field at astonishing speeds. He agilely avoided the opposite team's defense as he headed towards the Jonan goalie, who looked dazed at the sudden turn of events. Miaka frowned. He was too far away to make out his facial features, but he looked like one of the boys in her chemistry class, the one with the chin-length black hair and aristocratically beautiful face. She simply could _not_ take her eyes off him, even after he delivered a sweeping kick to the ball that gave Yotsubadai the advantage in score.

For the rest of the game, Miaka followed the young man with her eyes, shockingly impressed by his athletic ability and his complete nonchalance to all other players. _Suzaku, does he look_ bored? she thought incredulously as he scored another point for his team. The players on his team were looking mighty proud of their fellow teammate, while the players on the opposite team were giving the youth looks that were a mix of envy and admiration. Even the students and families who had come out to support Jonan's team were in silent awe of the young man's talents.

Miaka turned her gaze to Ryosei for the one moment she was able to break away from the unknown player. She was surprised to see the barely concealed hostility and frustration in his eyes every time he confronted the black-haired star. In fact, the expression looked so abnormal on the boy, she did a double take. Usually, Ryosei spoke of his rival with the highest regard, a respect that was reminiscent of the times of feudal lords and the samurai. But this dislike in Ryosei's eyes almost shattered Miaka's previous image of deference the green-eyed youth had for the Yotsubadai student.

The shaken feeling stayed within her all the way until the last whistle was blown. Needless to say, Yotsubadai has blown Jonan out of the water in the last half of the game, winning with almost even points more. The crowds were beginning to stand up and leave as the players gave each other respected bows before turning to leave.

Miaka caught Ryosei's eye, and was surprised as he completely dismissed her and turned his attention to the raven-haired player. Upset, Miaka followed his gaze and gaped when she was piercing eyes glaring at her from across the field. Was there _hostility_ in that look? She blinked and opened her mouth to shout something when the young man gave her an obvious cold shoulder before walking off. Now, Miaka steamed and crossed her arms. _What was_ that _all about!? I've never even done anything to the jerk!_ All the respect that she had fostered over the game flew right out the window. _Arrogant, bigheaded, annoying little…_

This tirade continued in her head even as Ryosei approached, an apologetic smile on his face. "Sorry about all that. I noticed you guys cheering, but I sometimes get really caught up in the game." Yui gave him an understanding nod.

"Don't worry about it," she grinned, winking at him. "It happens to the best of us." She gave Miaka a look and coughed slightly at the brooding look in her friend's emerald eyes. "Or the worst. Miaka, what in the world are you pouting about?" The girl mumbled something and Yui rolled her eyes. "When you want to talk so that others can understand you, then maybe I'd be able to reply." Miaka sighed and glanced over at Ryosei, who blinked innocence.

"Gomen nasai, Miaka. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings earlier."

"You don't have to apologize," Miaka said with a sigh. "I'm not mad at you." Ryosei grinned at her, and gave her a brief two-fingered salute before saying good-bye and running off to join his teammates. Miaka hesitated as her two friends got to their feet – was it just a bit of imagination, or had she seen a brief flash of hatred flash in Ryosei's eyes? What was with it and hostility among these football players? She thought most of that stuff was reserved for basketball, and even then, most of the crazy stuff happened over in America.

"Hey, are you just going to sit there all day, or are you coming with us?" Miaka glanced up at her friends, and reddened slightly, before getting to her feet and scampering after them.

"I'm coming! Meanies!"

xxxxx

He watched and waited.

And then, in moment of uncertainty and darkness, he was gone.

And the spell began.

xxxxx

Author's Note: (8-30-04) Okay, this chapter was excruciatingly long. I really didn't mean to make it this long. It just sort of happened. I have a number of things I need to get done per chapter, and this one had quite a few plot points to randomly drop in. And I hate separating chapters. As it is, both parts of _Aeternum Vale_ are going to both end up having a total of thirty-five chapters (thirty-six, if you include the prologue).

So, we learn more about the book. That can be a good thing or a bad thing, but I'm not giving away anything. You're just going to have to keep reading to find out. (Hey, two new mysterious characters!). Plus, the dark man makes his third appearance, and plots more.

I didn't know this until recently – all four gods are male. Unfortunately, I have Byakko as a female. I really don't feel like going back and changing this, but since it's only in the prologue, I'll probably end up doing it. Other than that, I've changed the intro format to all other chapters, but I think it'll be awhile before this story is updated again. It's already been two months since my last update (of course, with chapters that are 10K-plus pages long, I think I'm reasonably excused for not getting a chapter out every other week). Well, I promise, the next chapter will be shorter! I promise! No, really.

I haven't started chapter four yet, and I probably won't until I get some progress on Chapter 5 of Cinderella. And I'm not even going to try to get my Christmas chapter out before Christmas. It's not going to work, I already know it.

Well, that's enough of me ranting. I'll see y'all in the next chapter. Remember, read and review (because reviews make a story grow – plus they encourage the author, and all that lovable goodness).

Muchas gracias!

- Nashie-chan


End file.
